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PRICE FIFTY CENTS. 


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Hidden Treasures, 

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OR 


Fisheries Around the North-West Coast 


“ The taking of fish on the banks is a momentous concern.”— 
Fisher Ames.” 



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OF WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 

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PROCTER BROTHERS, PRINTERS, 
ADVERTISER OFFICE, GLOUCESTER, MASS, 

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[Entered according to Act of Congress, with the Librarian of Congress, 1870.] 


ACQUISITION OF CALIFORNIA. 


In 1846 the Mexican Province of California was annexed to 
the United States, and many people emigrated across the plains 
to that genial section of our country. Shortly afterward gold 
was discovered in various parts of that land in considerable 
quantities, and of such fineness as to attract ambitious men 
from other countries in search of sudden wealth ; in developing 
the gold fields the mountains have been washed, the hills dug 
up, and ancient rivers have been diverted from their time-worn 
channels. 

“ Gold — many hunted, sweat and bled for gold, 

And on its altar sacrificed ease, peace, 

Truth, faith, integrity, good conscience, friends, 

Love, charity, benevolence, and all 
The sweet and tender sympathies of life; 

Most for the luxuries it bought — the pomp, 

The praise, the glitter, fashion and renown, 

This yellow phantom followed and adored." 

— Pollock. 

Who can paint the hardships and privations which the miners 
endured ? How many bright visions came to untimely grief in 
that prolific land of the sham—roQk? How many devoted 
mothers and neglected wives have offered up their most earnest 
prayers to God in behalf of their cherished ones struggling and 
toiling in the sunset land ? 

The north-west coast* presents varied landscapes, bold, bleak 
headlands, broad tablelands, green valleys and sandy beaches, 
with occasional rocky reefs and ledges. The entire coast line 
has been explored; the sounds, bays, roadsteads and harbors 
have been minutely surveyed. 

Islands of different forms and elevations fringe several sec¬ 
tions of the coast, all of which may be seen in clear weather for 



4 


many miles; generally these islands present abrupt, clear 
shores, and may be approached with safety. The islands in the 
Santa Barbara channel afford good anchorage ; fuel, water and 
provisions are obtainable. 

The Farralones, a group of high, sterile rocks, bearing S. W. 
nearly twenty-five miles from the Golden Gate. During the 
spring months millions of birds are seen hovering around these 
islets ; many eggs are annually gathered there. Fierce conflicts 
and even bloodshed have been perpetrated for the periodical 
egg crop ; the strong arm of power has finally quieted the san¬ 
guinary broils, the title to these islands has been adjudicated, 
and “ peace reigns again in Warsaw.” 

Tatoosh is the most northerly island on the “ old north-west 
coast,” is flat-topped, without trees or shrubbery, its sides are 
nearly perpendicular, soaring 100 feet above the sea. 

The temperature of the North Pacific ocean ranges from 52° 
to 54°, much colder than the Atlantic on corresponding para- 
lells. A stream of warmer water washes the shores of Santa 
Barbara ; the people residing along these shores appreciate this 
boon, and may be seen on summer evenings in crowds enjoying 
the cheap luxury of sea bathing — a luxury generally denied the 
less favored people settled along the more northern coast. 

Winds. For nine months in each year, from March to No¬ 
vember, the wind blows regularly from the north-west along the 
coast with the regularity of trade winds. In February this sea 
breeze comes in during afternoon and continues till midnight; 
during May, June and July this wind is strong, and declines 
with the sun ; in August and September it blows with certainty; 
in October it fans weaker, and seldom extends beyond the 50°. 
During the prevalence of these winds the weather is temperate 
and bracing; heavy gales are not common on our coast. 
“ From April to October, inclusive, the prevailing wind is from 
the north-west, changing to west in valleys opening upon the 
coast, but in no case so strongly as through the Golden Gate. 
During the summer the wind sets in strong about 10, a. m., 
increasing until nearly sunset when it begins to die away.”— 
Davidson. 

From October till January the wind prevails generally from 
the westward; on approaching the coast and striking against 
the coast range of mountains it deflects to the north-west and 
Wows parallel to the shore. This wind comes with much force 


especially in the month of December, afflicting our shipping with 
more or less damage. Heavy gales from the southward very 
often veer suddenly to the north and blow with great violence. 
“ From November to March the wind is frequently from the 
south-east, blowing heavily, working round to the south-west 
with a large and broken swell from that quarter, weather thick, 
rainy and squally, the wind not unfrequently ending at north¬ 
west, with an ugly cross sea.”— Davidson. 

Rain-fall varies in different localities. To the south of 
Monterey droughts are prevalent, causing in some years the 
death of many cattle; to the north of the Golden Gate rain 
falls in sufficient quantities for husbandry ; in the region watered 
by the lower Columbia river the “ Oregon mist” falls thick and 
fast, whilst along Puget Sound valley sufficient rain falls for the 
general purposes of life. Rains along this coast are greeted 
w r ith joy, as they not only stimulate vegetation but also purify 
the atmosphere and impart health and vigor to the sick and dis¬ 
consolate. Tempests are seldom experienced; during our so¬ 
journ on the coast for nearly twelve years we observed but one 
thunder-storm, and that was a mild one compared with those 
witnessed-in the north Atlantic. Fogs are prevalent especially 
in the calm regions around the Golden Gate, and are very 
dense, retarding navigation. “ During the summer the wind 
sets in strong about 10, a. m., increasing until nearly sunset 
when it begins to die away. During its height it almost regu¬ 
larly brings in a dense fog, which, working its way over the 
peninsula, meets that already advanced through the Golden 
Gate, and envelopes San Francisco and the bay by sunset. As 
a rule the breeze does not dispel the fog. If fog exists outside, 
the wind is sure to bring it in.”— Davidson. 

As we progress farther north the fog is lighter and of short 
duration ; off the bar of the Columbia it offers little obstruction 
to shipping. On approaching the Strait of Fuca the soundings 
are gradual and the entrance wide, and little heed is paid there 
to fogs, snowstorms, or darkness. 

Fish, The coast extending from San Diego on the south, to 
Cape Flattery on the north, is very destitute of fish. The 
Spanish pioneers on the Pacific slope were early impressed with 
this conviction, and obtained a special dispensation from Rome, 
whereby they were relieved from the usual observance of stated 
days and seasons, and were at liberty to subsist on meats on all 


6 


occasions, as no fish were to be had. The warm stream bathing 
the shores of Santa Barbara, (already noted), affords genial 
resort to various species of fish, which, like all fish found in 
warm water, are lean and poor and of little value to the prac¬ 
tical fisherman. 

Sea Bass of various kinds are found around these islands in 
limited numbers; they range from twelve to twenty inches 
in length, speckled on the back, plump and solid; when fresh 
they afford palatable food, when salted they become dry and 
tough. The Tautog family are found in considerable numbers, 
they are coarse-grained and tasteless. Barracouta are plenty, 
ranging from twenty to thirty inches in length, spare, lean and 
dry; this fish is very savage, and annoy the fishermen, often 
carrying off their gear. 

In the summer season mackerel are found in the channel; 
they congregate in considerable numbers, and range from ten to 
twelve inches in length, lean, poor and slimy; they bear some 
resemblance to the “Dollar mackerel” on the eastern coast, 
and when salted are hard and tough. In the season of 1859 
the writer caught 246 barrels of poor mackerel in Prisoner’s 
Cove, on the north-east side of Santa Cruz island. Opposite 
the old mission of Santa Barbara we encountered large bodies 
at times. They appeared to gravitate to the "westward, but we 
have not been able to trace them to any higher latitudes. They 
are annually taken along the coast of California, but not in 
sufficient, numbers to justify any great preparation. The scarcity 
of fat mackerel along the north-west coast is a fatal drawback 
to our commercial development. The lean clipper with sym¬ 
metrical lines, the trim and rig of the vessel, the cut and set of 
the sails, the emulation among the crew to excel over each 
other, the small steering, the graceful walk on deck, the fierce 
determination to be high line, the keen maneuvering at the 
rail, the dignified demeanor in the boat, and all the graces 
clustering around that invigorating industry, and the lively 
ambition which it kindles in the youthful breast, renders the 
mackerel fishing schooner the most inspiring nursery for prac¬ 
tical seamanship; the want of this animating school is deeply 
deplored, and operates to retard the building of fast vessels on 
our coast. 

Sea Bass are found in the vicinity of the Golden Gate. 
Some of them are very large; they are savage, and annoying 


to the sporting fraternity; thrilling conflicts with this monster 
are recorded. The fishermen capture them in considerable 
nnmbers ; they command high prices and are held in high esteem 
among the epicures in San Francisco. 

Cod are taken in very limited numbers off the Farralones, 
they are lean and very poor, and resemble the jaundiced cod on 
the grand bank. On the Heceta bank, N.N.W. from Cape Or- 
ford, Oregon, cod are found. The Indians residing on that 
coast report this fish as quite abundant in the summer months, 
and are said to be large, solid and delicious. During the winter 
season shoals of cod are found in Puget Sound, they are small, 
resembling the Labrador cod, solid and sweet. The Indians 
take considerable quantities in seines ; when salted and properly 
cured this fish commands a premium over all other cod in the 
market of San Francisco. 

Halibut are found on Cape Flattery in certain seasons, they 
are small and sweet; the Indians take them in numbers for food. 

Bank of Cape Flattery. — “ At the entrance to the Strait 
of Juan de Fuca, fifteen miles by estimation W.N.W. from Cape 
Ilattery, it is reported that a bank exists having eighteen 
fathoms upon it. The Indians frequently go out upon some 
bank off the strait to fish for cod each season. In July, 1865, 
the schooner ‘ Brant ’ of Victoria, discovered codfishing banks 
off Cape Flattery, and caught five barrels of cod after two 
hours’ fishing. The fish are known as red cod, and weigh from 
five to fifteen pounds each. The bank has soundings in twenty- 
five fathoms, and is sixteen miles nearly due west from Cape 
Flattery. . . . This is an Indian fishing ground. Canoes 

go out on the ebb current, catch an average of fifty fish of forty 
pounds weight each, and return with flood current and westerly 
wind.” — Davidson . 

Dogfish are abundant in the waters of Puget Sound. This 
fish is large and solid, and yield plump, healthy livers, rich in 
oil. The great rise and fall of the ocean tide in these regions 
enable fishermen to trap large numbers of this fish in wiers. 
Dogfish oil is held in high esteem by our lumbermen, and sells 
rapidly for sixty to seventy cents, in coin, per gallon. 

Salmon are found along the north-west coast in countless 
numbers. Early in April they enter the Sacramento river and 
are taken in seines ; they are large, and are packed in ice and 
sent to the eastern markets. This fish, though very large, is 


8 


not a fair specimen of our northern salmon, as it is much softer. 
The “ Chincook salmon,” found in the lower Columbia, are 
very large, solid and fat. Several establishments are located 
along the banks of this river devoted to the catching and 
pickling of this fine fish. We noticed two or three fishing sta¬ 
tions on the Washington side of the river in which salmon were 
prepared and put up in tin cans, hermetically sealed. The 
salmon fishery on the Columbia is profitably developed. Several 
varieties of salmon are taken around the shores of Washington 
territory, and a number of rivers emptying into the Pacific ocean 
teem with this fish. During ten years voyaging on Puget Sound 
we observed the annual advent of silver salmon into those 
waters. This species ranges from eighteen to twenty-four inches 
in length, and present a white, shining appearance, solid and 
very fat, and when properly dressed and pickled, command re¬ 
munerative prices. They take the hook, and are thus taken in 
great numbers by the Indians, with whom it forms the principal 
staff of life. Several white people have engaged in developing 
this branch of industry. We have good faith in the enterprize 
and earnestly recommend it to the most favorable attention of 
energetic fishermen. 

British Columbia, its romantic eoast and lucrative fisheries, 
deserve notice. The fishing resources of this colony being 
opened to Americans by the “ Treaty of Washington,” we cheer¬ 
fully present the visible treasures latent in those waters, in the 
fond hope that that domain will ere many years shall roll around, 
become a part of our own great Republic. This appendage of the 
British Empire is already “ sandwiched in between the territories 
of Washington and Alaska.” Its coast presents varied land¬ 
scape, craggy mountains, bleak headlands, green valleys and 
clear, pebbly beaches ; in romantic scenery and beautiful views 
this colony may safely challenge any other portion of God’s 
green earth. In June, 1862, we sailed along this coast in a 
small sloop for hundreds of miles through the interior chain of 
islands extending from Olympia, at the head of Puget Sound, 
to the Stickine river — the south boundary of Alaska. We 
traverse the very region of romance, high cliffs overhanging 
deep sheen waters, frequent bays, meandering shores fringed 
with dense forests — every tree more stately than the “ Cedars 
of Lebanon.” Of this labyrinth of waters Prof. Davidson re¬ 
marks ; “ From the head of Puget Sound, in lat. 47° 05, to the 


id 


mouth of the Chilkaht, in 59° 15, through seven hundred and 
thirty-two miles, lies the vast interior line of navigation, un¬ 
equalled in the world for bold shores, deep waters, numerous 
bays and harbors, bordered every mile with timber of great size 
and height. The smallest craft can make their trading trips 
through these waters without the risk of a sea voyage; small 
steamboats can traverse them and find fuel at every point of 
the twenty thousand miles of shore line. The frequency of 
passages connecting these great straits and sounds with the 
ocean render them of inestimable value as a means of refuge to 
vessels fearing or suffering from heavy weather at. sea. . . . 

These waters were discovered by the American vessel 4 Wash¬ 
ington/ which entered by the Strait of Fuca in 48° 24, and left 
them by Dixon Sound in 54° 40.” 

Several islands margin this coast, prominent among which 
Vancouver looms 7000 feet above the sea. This important island 
runs parallel with the main land for nearly 200 miles, and pre¬ 
sents bold, abrupt outlines and acceptable anchorage. Farther 
north Queen Charlotte islands run parallel with the coast for 
160 miles ; this group soars high and presents wild, craggy out¬ 
lines, deep ravines, dense with timber ; the shores are bold and 
clean, affording secure shelter, where fuel, water and game may 
be obtained. Numerous tribes of Indians inhabit this coast. 
Some of them have acquired the rudiments of education, and 
display considerable mechanical ingenuity, the graceful models 
and lines of their canoes indicating artistic taste. They are 
expert watermen and skilful fishermen, navigating these waters 
in all seasons with safety, and capturing many whales ; they are 
treacherous and cruel to the white traders, and have plundered 
several vessels and murdered their crews. The gunboats of the 
royal navy exert a wholesome terror over the Indians in these 
regions. 

Fish. All the varieties of fish found in Puget Sound are 
also taken in the waters bathing British Columbia; sardines, 
smelts and herring are abundant, dogfish are plenty and solid, 
yielding clear, rich oil, the Indians take millions of them annu¬ 
ally. Cod of various species are found close to the shore and 
may be taken in quantities. Halibut are found around the 
Queen Charlotte isles like those taken off Cape Flattery, they 
are too small for the general purposes of commerce. Salmon 
revel around this coast; those found around the islands are of 


10 


moderate size, resembling the silver salmon in Puget Sound. 
In the Frazer, Sticknine and other rivers on the main-land, very 
large salmon are found in shoals. “Fish and other game, 
salmon and other good fish abound at the mouth of the Stickine. 
When the salmon ascend the river in June and July, the Indians 
follow and catch them in great numbers. They split them along 
the back removing the back-bone, cut them in long strips, and 
dry and smoke them; when well cured they are very fine and 
convenient in camp.” — Davidson. 

Acquisition Of Alaska. From what has been demonstrated 
in the foregoing pages touching the supply of cod and mackerel 
along the north-west coast, the impoverished fishing grounds 
and the sterility of our commercial nursery appeared rather 
dreary. The author having devoted several years to the fishing 
industry in British America and New England, and appreciating 
the lively impulse that that industrial school imparted to the 
colonial commerce, directed our earnest attention to this prolific 
business on the north-west coast. In the season of 1859, (as 
before stated), we made a voyage to the southern coast in search 
of mackerel which we found in shoals in the warm waters of 
Santa Barbara channel, but of such poor quality as not to justify 
any extensive preparation or profit. 

In the winter of 1859-60, the governor of Russian America 
visited San Francisco and tarried there for weeks. The writer 
obtained an audience with him through the friendship of the 
Russian Consul, and earnestly solicited of him the privilege of 
prosecuting the salt fisheries for a term of years on the peninsula 
of Alaska. The consul was a partner in our enterprize, and he 
urged our claims most earnestly; for days and weeks we lavished 
every conceivable blandishment on the imperial nabob to secure 
the desired franchise* He very cooly refused to comply with 
our requests, and with an emphatic “ No! ” politely withdrew 
his august presence, and thus our first attempt on Alaska “ died 
of a rose in aromatic pain,” and the enterprize was abandoned 
With sore regrets. In our perplexity we addressed Secretary 
Cass at Washington, imploring governmental assistance to the 
end that we might Obtain a foothold near the fishing grounds 
margining Russian America. The venerable secretary replied 
that the troubles then in prospect in the South precluded any 
effort on the part of the Federal government in our behalf, and 
that our franchise in those regions must “ wait for a more 


11 


convenient season.” Senator Gwinn from California was also 
strongly appealed to to advocate this measure conjointly with 
Secretary Cass ; to his credit be it written that then and there he 
offered the government of Russia the sum of $6,000,000 for the 
territory of Alaska. [See Hon. Charles Sumner’s speech on the 
cession of Alaska.] 

The great rebellion in the Southern States paralyzed our 
national industry, on the Pacific slope we felt its baneful influence 
in obstructing many enterprizes. At the restoration of peace 
our people branched out into new channels of industry and 
general prosperity prevailed. "Whaling vessels visiting Behring 
Sea and the Arctic Ocean took cod in more or less quantities, 
and the abundance of those and other desirable fish in the 
waters bathing the Russian possessions became known to our 
people, and some of our adventurous fishermen made occasional 
raids on those fishing grounds and in a few weeks returned 
laden with the products of those waters. 

In the spring of 1866 Captain Turner sailed from San Fran¬ 
cisco in the schr. “ Porpoisehe pursued a northerly course, 
calling at Queen Charlotte’s, Unga, and Shumagin islands; 
around the latter named group he found safe harbors, fuel, 
water and other facilities for prosecuting his business, while on 
the grounds fringing those isles he found large, plump, healthy 
codfish in such numbers as to enable him to fill his vessel in a 
few weeks. After an absence of three months this “hardy 
toiler on the sea” returned to the “ Bay City,” having performed 
a successful porpoise voyage, the honored pioneer of the north¬ 
western salt fisheries. 

In January, 1866, the aqthor, while attending the session of 
the legislature at Olympia, the capital of Washington Territory, 
determined to make another bold push for Alaska, by soliciting 
the good offices of our government for the purpose of obtaining 
a permanent foothold, and to open the prolific fishing grounds in 
those regions to our ambitious fishermen. To this end we 
penned the following: 

“ Memorial. To His Excellency Andrew Johnson, President 
of the United States. Your memorialists — the Legislative 
Assembly of Washington Territory, beg leave to show that vast 
quantities of cod, halibut and salmon of excellent quality, are 
found along the shores of Russian America. Your memorialists 
respectfully request your Excellency to obtain such rights and 


12 


privileges of the government of Russia, as will enable our fish¬ 
ing vessels to visit the harbors of its possessions, to the end 
that fuel, water and provisions may be obtained ; that our sick 
and disabled fishermen may obtain sanitary assistance ; together 
with the privilege of taking and curing fish and repairing vessels 
in need of repairs. Your memorialists further request that the 
Secretary of the Treasury be instructed to forward to the Col¬ 
lector of Customs of this, Puget Sound district, such fishing- 
license, abstract journals and log-books, as will enable our hardy 
fishermen to obtain the bounties now paid to the fishermen in 
the Atlantic States. Your memorialists finally pray your Ex¬ 
cellency to employ such ships as may be spared from the Pacific 
naval fleet in surveying the fishing banks known to navigators 
to exist from the Cortez Bank to Behring Strait.” 

This memorial, written by a fisherman in behalf of the fishing 
industry on the north-east coast, passed both branches of our 
territorial legislature with commendable unanimity and dispatch. 
In forwarding a copy of the above named memorial to the Sec¬ 
retary of State, we imparted such information touching the 
fisheries around the Russian possessions, and the impulse which 
the opening of those resources to our fishermen would impart to 
the commercial development on the north-west coast. In ac¬ 
knowledging our humble services the illustrious secretary assured 
us that “ in cosummating the recent purchase, I was strongly 
fortified by the letters which you wrote to me touching the valu¬ 
able fisheries in those waters.” The New York Times of April 
1st, 1867, (the acknowledged organ of Secretary Seward,) said, 
“ that a memorial from the Territorial Legislature of Washington 
Territory, dated January, 1866, asking the President to obtain 
certain rights for the fishermen, was the foundation of the 
present treaty.” 

On the eighteenth of October, 1867, the transfer of this vast 
territory from Russia to the United States was oflicially con¬ 
summated by the respective commissioners of the two govern¬ 
ments, at Sitka, in the presence of the Russian population, who 
cheerfully welcomed the few Americans there also present. The 
union has been very cheerfully accepted by the people of the 
territory. Our government, on assuming possession, found 
numerous adventurers from the Pacific States domiciled in 
various parts of the territory engaged in trade and in developing 
the resources in those regions ; vessels laden with ware entered 


13 


every harbor, stores were opened as by magic in every acceptable 
roadstead along the southern and western coasts, an active 
competition for furs, oil, ivory, old copper, iron and junk, was 
earnestly inaugurated, commerce revived, the sails of our vessels 
whitened every creek, bay and sound, and the staid Russians 
very soon obtained an insight into Yankee progress on the go- 
ahead principle. 

Topography. The topography of this coast presents varied 
scenery; rugged mountains, craggy promontories, bleak head¬ 
lands and broad valleys. The shores are generally bold and 
clean, offering little obstruction to careful navigation. Mount 
St. Eleas, in the south-eastern angle of the territory, soars high 
in the region of clouds; the highest elevation in our country 
may be seen on a clear day 130 miles at sea. Cape Douglas, 
the south-west angle of Cook’s Inlet, forms a lofty cupola which 
gradually slopes with gentle declivity along the peninsula of 
Alaska, and terminates in a low plateau. Several mountains 
run parallel with the coast and rear their lofty crests heaven¬ 
ward. On a clear day these mountain domes, basking in eternal 
sleet, glittering in the sun’s rays and cutting sharp against the 
azure sky, present the grandest scenery the human eye can wit¬ 
ness ; we have observed these sparkling monuments from the 
vessel, many leagues off shore, — the landscape was romantic 
andjwild. * 

Behring Sea is margined with lower table -lands, the shore 
meanders into bays and coves; the Yukon river empties into 
this sea through various channels, depositing vast quantities of 
sediment which form broad marshes along the coast for leagues, 
and extend for miles into the sea. “ The whole country, from 
Norton’s Sound to Point Barrow, is a vast moorland, 

The aspect of some spots is very gay; May-flowers are large, 
with bright colors, though white predominates, and plants dis¬ 
playing other tints are not uncommon. Cape Lisburn, in lat. 
68° 52, one of the most productive localities, looks like a gar¬ 
den. To prevent the ravages of the scurvy, the Esquimaux 
collect for their stock, raspberries, whortleberries and cranberries. 

. . . In the Arctic sub-regions there are plants which the eye 

is accustomed to meet in the plains of more temperate climates, 
besides annuals and bi-annuals, shrubs and trees. A peculiar 
feature of the vegetation is its harmless character, the poisonous 
plants being few in number and their quality by no means vir¬ 
ulent.” — Davidson, 


14 


Islands of various forms and elevation border the coast; the 
Kadik group present high, craggy cliffs and verdant gulches, 
with broad, green valleys ; the Shumagins are lower, more level, 
and bask in nutritious grass. The small islands margining the 
peninsula are numerous and barren, presenting clean, pebbly 
beaches. The Aleutian Islands; extending from the south¬ 
western angle of the territory in the direction of the Asiatic 
coast, are bold, rugged and mountainous. Several volcanic 
peaks are visible among these inlands, they are separated by 
deep, boiling channels, through which the ocean currents rush 
with fierce violence, creating fearful tide-rips, which, in heavy 
gales, mariners in those waters are most careful to avoid. 

Climate. Along the southern and western shores of Alaska 
the climate is humid and milder than could Tbe looked for in such 
high latitudes, tempered by the volume of warm water constantly 
bathing those shores. This thermal stream from “ India’s coral 
strand,” coming through the sea of Japan, along the Asiatic 
coast, and dividing into several branches, the greatest of which 
passes through Behring Strait into the Arctic Ocean, and carry¬ 
ing the ice formed in those waters away from our shores ; a con¬ 
siderable stream shoots to the north-east, striking with some 
force against the island of St. Lawrence, again deflects to the 
eastward and finally to the southward and westward, laving the 
northern shores of the peninsula of Alaska and the Aleutian 
islands. A considerable volume of this current crosses on an 
easterly course, washing the south-eastern base of Alaska, 
strikes the shores of British Columbia, and deflects to the north- 
north-west and westward, creating a strong counter-current along 
the Gulf of Alaska and imparting a double dose of heat to the 
shores fringing those waters. The westerly winds blowing over 
this thermal plateau tempers the coast climate, and in passing 
through the Cascade Mountains are known as “ Chinook winds ” 
in the broad basin of the Columbia river. These winds thus 
tempered exert vital influence along the coast, stimulating vege¬ 
tation and dense underbrush. The condensation of this warm 
wind by the colder air on the mainland produces moisture and 
heavy rains, hence the rank growth of trees, grasses, plants and 
moss. Larger trees are found here than on the Atlantic slope 
on the same parallels, while gay plants and beautiful flowers 
flourish and give to those regions the appearance of budding 
fields. 


15 


“ The North Pacific presents a peculiar striking analogy to 
the North Atlantic, in the existence of a great warm current 
which sweeps along the eastern coast of Asia to the north-east¬ 
ward across the Pacific, washes the north-west coast of America, 
affects the climate of the whole coast, and gives a much higher 
temperature along the sea-board than would exist under normal 
circumstances. The Japanese have long been well aware of this 
great current which washes the south-eastern shores of their 
empire, and have given to it the name of 4 Kuro Siwo, or Black 
Stream/ from its deep blue color when compared with the 
neighboring waters of the Pacific. It has been noticed by 
nearly all the old navigators and explorers, and a systematic 
series of observations was undertaken by the United States 
expeditions to Japan under Commodore Perry. This singular 
current, with the water at an average maximum temperature of 
86°, being that of the equatorial waters, affords a solution of 
the fact of the Bonin islands, in the lat. of 272°, having an ex¬ 
clusively tropical vegetation, the cause of which was long a 
mystery to naturalists. It also accounts for the productiveness 
of the southern islands of the Japan group, in sugar and other 
products usually confined to inter-tropical regions, and to the 
successful development of the silk worm as high as lat. 45 °. 

The results of observations, corroborated by the facts of the 
high temperature above stated, shows very satisfactorily that 
the Japan stream has its origin in the great northern equatorial 
current. This great current, leaving the coast of Lower Cali¬ 
fornia and the Gulf of California, between the latitudes of 15° 
and 25°, sweeps across the whole Pacific, with its axis two or 
three degrees south of the Sandwich islands, and thence on the 
parallel of 15°, and coming gradually northward until it passes 
the position of the Ladrone islands in lat. 17°, long. 214° west, 
is gradually deflected north-east along the Asiatic coast, but 
apparently with decreased velocity. . . . At 120 leagues 

eastward of Formosa the monsoon current of the Caroline 
islands runs northward, and thence north-east, adding its waters 
to those of the great Japan current. The combined waters of 
the Caroline and equatorial streams are thrown against the 
island of Formosa in lat. 22°, long. 239° west, thence deflected 
to the northward and north-eastward, and on the parallel of 31° 
strikes the southern extremity of Japan and pass close along 
the north-eastern coast of Niphon. Of the south and east 


16 

point of Niphon, in lat. 35°, long. 220° w6st, the stream again 
begins to spread, and by the time it reaches lat. 38°, long. 210°, 
it has been divided or split in two by the intrusion of the cold 
polar current. The contact of the cold and warm waters give 
rise to the constant fogs that exist in this region. One branch 
of the stream, called the Kamschatka current, moves to the 
north-east, nearly parallel with the coast of Japan, the Kurile 
islands and the coast of Kamschatka, its axis passing just east 
of Copper island, in lat. 55°, long. 191, and running directly for 
Behring Strait. The other and greater branch follows the par¬ 
allel of 35° eastward, being deflected a degree or two toward 
the south, in long. 180°, by the impinging of the cold Behring 
sea current running southward through the Fox islands, but in 
long. 170° it regains its latitude, and finally reaches the lat. 
45° to 50°, in about long. 148°, when it appears to again di¬ 
vide. The main body of the stream stretches directly toward 
the coast of America, is deflected to the southward and east¬ 
ward, runs down the coast of Oregon and California, and finally 
sweeps back into the great northern equatorial current. The 
existence of this current is well demonstrated by the wrecks of 
Japanese junks on the coasts of Washington Territory and 
Oregon. Many years ago, upon the beach south of Point 
Adams, at the entrance of the Columbia river, there was cast 
away a Chinese junk with many hands and a cargo of beeswax. 
The ship was totally lost but the crew were saved. In support 
of this Indian tradition pieces of this wax, coated with sand and 
bleached nearly white, are occasionally thrown upon the beach 
after great storms. Formerly a great deal was found, but now 
it is rarely met with. In 1851 we saw many pieces of it.* In 
1833 a Japanese junk was wrecked near Cape Flattery, of which 
account can be found in Belcher’s narrative and in United States 
exploring expedition. .... Among the tangible proofs 
of the origin and existence of the Kamschatka current are the 
following: In September, 1862, a Japanese vessel was wrecked 
on the island of Attou, she had been driven off the coast of 
Japan two or three months before with a crew of twelve men, of 
whom she lost nine before going ashore, and had thus drifted 
1800 miles in this current, at an average velocity of over twenty 
miles per day. Among the floating bodies which the sea drives 
upon the shores of Copper island, the true right camphor-wood, 

*The writer saw several cakes of this wax at Nehalem beach, in April, 1868. 


17 


tiiad another sort of wood, very white, soft and sweet-scented, 
are occasionally found. Kotzebue found Asiatic wood among 
the Aleuts of Unalaska.” — Davidson. 

Hon. Charles Sumner, in his speech on the cession of Alaska, 
in demonstrating the thermal current in those regions, asserted: 
u All this is now explained by certain known forces in nature ; 
of these the most important is a thermal current in the Pacific 
corresponding to the gulf stream in the Atlantic; the latter, 
having its origin in the heated waters in the Gulf of Mexico, 
flows as a river through the ocean northward, encircling England, 
bathing, Norway and warming all within its influence. A simi¬ 
lar stream in the Pacific, sometimes called the Japanese current, 
having its origin under the equator near the Phillipines and the 
Malaccas, amid no common heat, after washing the ancient em¬ 
pire of Japan, sweeps northward until forming two branches, 
one moves onward to Behring Strait, and the other bends east¬ 
ward along the Aleutian islands, and thence southward along the 
coast of Sitka, Oregon and California.” 

Intelligent people remote from the regions here described, are 
prone to doubt and unwilling to acknowledge the superiority of 
our climate along the north-west coast. For the purpose of 
removing doubt on this very important subject we have quoted 
very fully from Messrs. Davidson and Sumner, in the fond hope 
and conscious faith that this important truth so indispensable to 
the development of the vast latent resources in those regions, 
may be fully understood and appreciated. "With all due respect 
to the opinions of the above named gentlemen, or any other 
man, we maintain that the “ Japanese thermal current” does not 
extend southward of Vancouver island. During our voyaging 
in those waters we have failed to notice any indication of such 
a current on the coasts of Oregon or California, and have never 
met a practical navigator on that coast advocating such a theory. 
It is a well established fact among the coasters that the climate 
along the coasts of California and Oregon is much colder and 
more frigid than that on Puget Sound and the waters washing 
the coast of British Columbia. A very strong current runs con¬ 
stantly to the northward along those states, otherwise the anti¬ 
quated, slow lumber vessels beating up those shores against the 
stiff north-west trade winds prevailing in those regions, would 
make very long passages. We have witnessed trees and logs of 
redwood from the coast forests of California beached on the 

3 


18 


sand-spits margining the Strait De Fuca. Nearly all the ves¬ 
sels stranded on the bar of the Columbia, and on the coasts ad¬ 
jacent, have drifted northwest; the cargoes and materials of 
those wrecks have invariably grounded on the coast of British 
Columbia ; all the deckloads of lumber thrown off of vessels on 
this coast, have, in every instance, landed either on Queen Char¬ 
lotte’s island or on the neighboring mainland. From such cir¬ 
cumstances we conclude that no current flows southward along 
the shores of Oregon and California. In the regions east of the 
Cascade mountains, in British Columbia and the eastern divis¬ 
ion of Washington Territory, strong indications of thermal in¬ 
fluences are manifest, which fortifies the belief that the thermal 
winds from the Indies are absorbed in tlie great basin of the Co¬ 
lumbia, and that those warm breezes exert a directing power in 
tempering the climate, even in the northern pass of the Rocky 
mountains. The Cariboo gold fields are secluded in mountain 
fastnesses. In the winter season the climate is severe, the frost 
is very keen; miners who have wintered in those fields affirm 
that in traveling southward sixty miles they enter a genial ther¬ 
mal climate. The warm winds rushing in through the mountain 
pass from the oeean exert a powerful effect in those regions, 
quickening vegetation, spurring the grass and exciting plants 
and flowers. The “ Hudson Bay Company ” have, for nearly 
half a century, maintained large tracts of prairie lands in the 
Kamaloops, where they have nurtured and reared herds of cattle 
and horses. This “ green spot in memory’s waste ” has proved 
a successful pasture ; while vast herds in Oregon and California 
perished from the inclemency of the climate. Stock grazing on 
those bleak prairies, in lat. 52° , throve and fattened. Notwith¬ 
standing that the company have never provided sheds or prov¬ 
ender, we have yet to learn that any considerable number of 
their cattle perished in any season from hunger or cold. “ In 
the economy of nature these thermal currents are only pipes of 
hot water, modifying the climate of continents by carrying heat 
from the warm cisterns of the south into the most distant places 
in the north. . . . Every ocean wind from every quarter, as 

it traverses over the stream of heat, takes up the warmth and 
carries it to the coast, so that the ocean current is re-enforced 
by an aerial current of constant influence. But these forces are 
aided by the configuration of the northwestern coast with a lofty 
and impenetrable barricade of mountains by which its islands 


19 


and harbors are protected from the cold of the north. Occupy¬ 
ing the Aluetian islands, traversing the peninsula of Alaska, 
and running along the margin of the ocean to lat. 54° 40, this 
mountain ridge, this climatic shed, such as perhaps exists no¬ 
where else in the world; here an Alps, some of them volcanic, 
with Mount St. Elias, higher than Mount Blanc, standing guard 
against the Arctic Circle ; so it serves without the aid of science. 
Here is a dike between the icy waters of Behring sea and the 
milder southern ocean ; here is a partition between the treeless 
northern coast of the Keenians and Kolochians ; here is a fence 
which separates the animal kingdom of this region, leaving on 
the one side the walrus and ice fox from the frozen ocean, and 
on the other side the hufnming bird from the tropics. I simply 
repeat the statements of geography. And now you will not fail 
to observe how by this configuration the thermal currents of the 
ocean are left to exercise their climatic powers.”— Sumner. 

Sitka, the famous metropolis of the Russian Fur Company, 
has been shorn of its prestige ; it is still the “ seat of customs,” 
and the official headquarters of the army. Being located in the 
southeastern pan-handle of the territory, in the neighborhood of 
Fort Simpson, the Hudson Bay Company’s nearest trading post, 
and surrounded by the most treacherous Indians on the north¬ 
west coast, who have inherited a deadly animosity against the 
“ Bostons,” they carry their furs and products to Fort Simpson 
and trade them with the “ King George men.” In consequence 
of mutual hatred engendered between the races, little trade is 
now done at Sitka; “ the glory of Israel is departed.” Our fish¬ 
ermen and traders make a “ bee line ” to western Alaska, where 
they find kind, Christian people of reliable, docile habits ; very 
industrious trappers and fishermen, with whom a profitable bar¬ 
ter in oil, furs, ivory and fish is largely and profitably carried 
on. The climate prevailing in the Sitka district changes but lit¬ 
tle in the course of a year; being fenced in by a chain of high 
mountains, an unusal amount of rain falls continually. “By 
this it will be seen that the mean temperature of Sitka in lat. 
57° 3, derived from twelve years observation, is 42° 9, Fahren¬ 
heit. . . . The average amount of rain, melted snow and 

hail that fell from 1847 to 1864 (with the exception of the year 
1855) was 82.66 inches, or within a fraction of seven feet, (yet 
five inches less than the fall at the mouth of the Columbia river,) 
and the average annual number of days upon which rain, snow 


20 

or hail fell, or heavy fogs prevailed, was 245, or two days out 
of every three. . . . Kotzebue says that in the middle of 

winter the cold is not excessive and never lasts long.”— Da¬ 
vidson. 

Kadiak and the islands adjacent are high and craggy, and 
subject to heavy rains. In summer the days are sunny and 
warm and the winter is much colder than at Sitka. We noticed 
green, nutritious grass, on which small compressed cattle were 
feeding; we also observed cabbages, carrots, potatoes and oth¬ 
er vegetables growing in the neighborhood of, St. Paul. “We 
were unable to obtain any meteorological records at St. Paul, 
and our knowledge of it is extremely lifted. In general terms 
we know that it is warmer in summer than at Sitka, and colder 
in winter, and this is corroborated by the fact that ice obtained 
at Sitka for the San Francisco market has been found unfit for 
commerce on account of being full of air holes, by which it rap¬ 
idly melted, and recourse was had to the ice formed by the cold¬ 
er winters of Kadiak. ... In the latter part of August we 
found grass growing from the sphagnum and having an average 
height of not less than two feet. It is usually cut about the 
first of August, and cures well and rapidly in a few days ; some 
stalks we examined were in as fine condition and as sweet as 
any we have seen on the Atlantic slope. Western men with us 
corroborated our botanist in saying that this is really a fine graz¬ 
ing country, and capable of sustaining a very large number of 
cattle. The condition of cattle we saw about St. Paul and on 
Spruce Island, and at the freedmen’s settlement was fine, and the 
flavor of the beef we obtained was good. . . . During our 

stay at Kadiak, from August 26th to the 31st, the mean temper¬ 
ature of the air was 49° 5, and of the water, 45° 8.”— Davidson. 

As we travel this coast to the westward we encounter dry, 
bracing weather. The peninsula of Alaska, the islands fringing 
it, and the Aleutian islands, are lofty and comparatively level; 
no timber is visible along these shores ; grass and various kinds 
of vegetables are produced, and cattle, goats and hogs fare 
sumptuously. u Our stay at Unalaska was too limited to enable 
us to judge of the climate, except in the influence it has on the 
botany of the islands. . . . There are no trees of any size 

whatever upon any of the Aleutian islands. . . . Grasses 

grow luxuriantly, and when cut and cured, are used to feed the 
small Siberian breed of CRttle through the winter. . . But 


21 


the published meteorological observations of the Greek Bishop 
Veniaminoff, made at Honliouk between the years 1825 and 
1834, afford much useful material from which to draw fair con¬ 
clusions of the climate. . . . The mean temperature, from 

nine years observations, is 38° 05, or 4° 9 below that of Sitka. 

. . . The clearest months without clouds are December, 

January and February, when the north and north-west winds 
prevail. . . . August, September and October are the 
months in which the most rain falls, during which time winds 
from the. south and south-west prevail. . . . Thunder 

storms are rare, only seventeen being recorded in seven years, 
and some in winter/’ — Davidson. 

Winds along the coast differ with the seasons; during the 
spring and summer months south-west winds generally prevail 
along the southern and western shores; in the autumn and 
winter seasons, north-west, north and north-east winds are 
regular, with occasional breezes from the southward. Fogs are 
common along the shores, but not very dense, being much 
lighter than those around the Golden Gate — the entrance to 
San Francisco. “ The prevailing winds in winter are easterly, 
and if from the southward are accompanied with rain and snow ; 
when from the north-east the weather is generally clear and 
cold. La Perouse says that when the wind is but a few degrees 
north of west, the sky is generally pretty clear. When ap¬ 
proaching Behring Bay, he says: 4 1 first thought these seas 
more foggy than those which separate Europe and America, but 
I should have been greatly mistaken to have irrevocably em¬ 
braced this opinion.’ The fogs of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland 
and Hudson Bay have uncontestable claim to pre-eminence from 
their constant density. The stormy weather commences in 
October; storms and tempests are frequent in November and 
December, and from the vicinity of Sitka the aurora borealis is 
seen frequently and very brilliant during clear, cold nights. 
The winter weather breaks up about the end of March, and the 
Russian-American Company’s vessels are ready for their first 
fur-trading early in April, when the weather is cold but com¬ 
paratively dry. March, April, May, June, July, and sometimes 
August, are good months, with an average monthly rain-fall 
not much greater than on the Atlantic coast.” — Davidson. 

Timber. The south-eastern angle of the territory is densely 
covered with forest; several varieties of wood are found con- 


22 

venient to acceptable harbors. The Sitka spruce predominates, 
and in some cases attains enormous dimensions ; this timber is 
well adapted for staves, headings and wharves. Yellow cedar 
is very abundant, has a close grain, remarkable elasticity, and 
is well adapted for the general purposes of shipbuilding, is 
proof against the sea worm, and makes good bottom plank, 
ceiling, clamps, bends, and a superior article for deck plank; 
the Eussians have used this wood successfully in ship and other 
building for nearly a century, and it has given general satis¬ 
faction. “ The prevailing forest tree is the Sitka spruce, 
growing to a great size, covering every foot of ground, and 
climbing the steepest mountain sides to the height of 2500 feet 
above the sea. We measured felled trees of this spruce that 
were 184 feet long, and four feet thick at the butt, while adjacent 
standing trees were over six feet in diameter, and branchless for 
over fifty feet. Hemlock, alders and willows are found, but the 
most valuable wood of the country is the yellow cedar, with a 
fine even texture, fragrant smell, good size a*nd greater strength 
than the spruce. We first called public attention to the Port 
Oxford white cedar in 1851, and while admitting its many good 
qualities, we have no hesitation in saying that the yellow cedar 
of Alaska is a much superior wood; it is readily worked, takes 
a smooth surface, and is remarkably durable. It will make a 
valuable addition to the cabinet woods of the California market, 
is superior as a ship timber to any on the coast, and from our 
short examination we are satisfied that it may be obtained of 
ample size for the frames and knees of ordinary sized vessels. 
At Skalitch anchorage one was measured eighteen feet in cir¬ 
cumference, and estimated at over 120 feet in height. We ob¬ 
tained and forwarded part of the keelson and frame of one of 
the Eussian American Company’s small vessels which was con¬ 
structed of this wood over thirty-two years ago, and had been 
lying a wreck on the beach several years; it exhibits not the 
least sign of decay or toredo attacks, the wood around the iron 
and copper bolts is nearly as well preserved as on the day they 
were driven. The hulls of all the trading and fishing vessels 
on this new coast may be constructed of this durable wood upon 
any of the innumerable bays of the Alexander Archipelago ; we 
have seasoned a small piece of it for one year in a dry, warm 
room, and it has a weight indicating twenty-six pounds to the 
cubic foot; under ordinary seasoning the weight would be over 
thirty pounds.” — Davidson. 


2o 


Minerals have been found in various parts of the territory ; 
coal and iron are plainly visible to the naked eye along the 
shores on Cook’s inlet; gold has been found in paying quanti¬ 
ties ; silver, copper and bismuth have been discovered in locali¬ 
ties convenient to navigation. “ Of these little is known, and 
Prince Maksutoff, late Governor of the Russian Colonies, ac¬ 
knowledged that the company had been so persistently engaged 
in procuring furs and studying up the best methods of keeping 
up the supply, that no thorough minerological exploration had 
been made, although a large cabinet of minerological specimens 
for comparison had been furnished by the company to the chief 
establishment at Sitka. Under his directions the very few 
specimens of Alaska minerals in possession of the servants of 
the company were transferred to the coast survey and referred 
to the geologist. . . The most important discovery was 

made by the coast survey in October, 1867, in the valley at the 
head of St. John’s Bay, opening upon Newski Strait about 
seventeen and one-half miles northward of Sitka. Pieces of 
coal, largely intermixed with rock, to which their preservation 
was due, were found four or five miles along the bed of the 
small but rapid stream. After a second partial exploration, 
and obtaining large specimens, it was believed the coal was an¬ 
thracite, . . . but from all the geological evidence the 
geologist reported that the bed or beds from which it was broken 
will, if discovered, afford coal of vastly superior quality to any 
heretofore known to exist in the territory, and the government 
was advised to direct exhaustive examination of this locality. 
Recent information has been received that this coal vein, which 
has been discovered, is of great thickness, is an anthracite, has 
been burnt on a United States steamer, and reported upon fa¬ 
vorably. . . . Should petroleum come to be used as a 
steam producing fuel on steamships, there is a prospect of a 
supply being obtained from the south-east shore of Alaska 
peninsula, at or near Katmay Bay, in lat. 58° 51, long. 154° 54, 
and abreast of Kadiak islands. The governor furnished the 
coast survey with a specimen of the crude oil obtained there two 
or three years ago. The finder, a teacher in the Russian- 
American Company, reported that he found three streams in the 
above locality covered with petroleum. Specimens of fine cop¬ 
per have been gathered from various localities, but the principle 
source is on the Atna or copper river, about twenty-five or thirty 


24 


miles above its month, where discovery and research are retarded 
on account of the reported hostility of the natives. . . . 

All the peculiarly figured copper-plates of the natives, twenty- 
six by fifteen inches, and so much-prized as heir-looms by the 
Indians as far south as Vancouver’s island, are hammered out 
of pure copper obtained from this river. . . . Gold is found 

on the Sticknine river, and even with very crude means of 
working the miners report that they can make from $2 to $7 per 
day, but the climate forbids them working more than six months 
of the year. Proper methods of working the fine gold placers 
of this river would yield twice the amount. Gold is reported to 
have been found by mining engineer Doroschin on the ICenay 
river, which enters Cook’s inlet on the eastern shore about lat. 
60° 32, at the Russian station of St. Nicholas, but we have no 
authentic information on the subject beyond the statement of 
Tebenkoff.* In little Naquashinski inlet, fifteen miles from 
Sitka, the coast survey party discovered very fine marble in in¬ 
exhaustible quantities, and at the mouth of the Chilkaht speci¬ 
mens of marble of a very coarse grain, and others of a very fine 
crystalization, were discovered, all being white, very pure and 
unmarked. . . . The hot springs laying on the south-west 

part of Sitka Sound, were not visited, and we know nothing 
more than the meagre descriptions of Lisiansky, Simpson, and 
others. There are four distinct springs issuing frQm fissures in 
the granite rock. At its source the principal spring has a tem¬ 
perature of 153£° Fahrenheit, and is chiefly impregnated with 
sulphur, but also has salt and magnesia in solution. There 
is also a large basin, purposely dug in the ground, to receive the 
waters of the springs, about two or three hundred yards from 
the beach and fifty feet above high water; in this basin the 
water has a temperature of about 100° Fahrenheit. Two sub¬ 
stantial buildings of hewn logs, erected by the Russian Company 
for hospital cases of chronic rheumatism and cutaneous diseases, 
are situated on the sloping face of the bank; in front lies a 
pretty little cove, completely sheltered by an archipelago of 
small, wooded islands; in the rear is a barrier of rugged 
mountains, while immediately within the influence of the warm 
waters and continually rising vapors, there grows a luxuriant 

*We visited Fort St. Nicholas in September, 1869, and saw specimens of coarse 
goid among the people residing in that vicinity; we brought several soldiers from 
the military post at that place to San Francisco; they exhibited quantities of g;old 
which they obtained m the mines above stated some weeks previous, and reported 
the placers rich in coarse gold. * 


25 


verdure even where all around is clothed in snow. The waters 
adjacent are alive with fish and fowl, and the land teems with 
deer and other game.” — Davidson. 

The Memorial from the Legislature of Washington Territory, 
(above quoted), asked the President “ To employ such ships as 
might be spared from the North Pacific naval fleet, in surveying 
the fishing banks along the coast from the Cortez bank to Behr¬ 
ing Strait.” Our beneficent government has nobly responded to 
this prayer. Immediately on assuming jurisdiction over Alaska, 
a scientific expedition in connection with the coast survey was 
sent to that territory, instructed to collect correct information in 
regard to geographical science, climate, products of the country, 
ocean currents and their future bearings on the question of the 
steamship route to the Indies ; also to ascertain the bounds and 
extent of the fishing banks, and the facilities for developing the 
fishing resources in those waters. Banks have been found and 
partially surveyed in Bristol Bay, around the Aleutian islands, 
along the peninsula of Alaska,, and adjacent to the Kadiak 
group. The eastern half of Behring Sea, a broad, level plateau, 
having from twenty to forty fathoms of water, is found to be a 
boundless reservoir of cod, containing about 20,000 square 
miles. 11 The extensive sheet of water north of the Aleutians 
to Behring Strait, in lat. 65|°, and between the American and 
Asiatic continents, is known as Behring Sea, and, so far as 
sounded, consists of very extensive submarine levels of remark¬ 
able eveness of surface at a very small depth.” — Davidson. 

The Unmak bank, margining the Aleutians, Shumagins and 
Kadiak islands are somewhat deeper ; those grounds amount to 
nearly 45,000 square miles, embraced within the fifty fathom 
curve. “ The banks along the shores of Alaska, around the 
Kadiak group, and part of the Aleutian chain, will add not less 
than 45,000 square miles, with a depth of not over fifty fathoms 
to the 18,000 miles of the Behring Sea.” — Davidson. 

The waters extending eastward from the Kadiak islands indi¬ 
cate light appearance and moderate soundings. Early navi¬ 
gators report a vast, broad plain in this region, with fathomable 
depth; no definite bounds or deepness have as yet been as¬ 
certained, and the extent of this valuable fishing ground remains 
undefined. u The soundings of Portlock, of Vancouver, and of 
this expedition, prove the existence of a comparatively shoal 
bank, extending along the south-eastern coast of Afognak and 

4 


Kadiak, twenty-live miles east of St. Paul. The slioalest water 
obtained on this bank by this expedition was forty-five fathoms, 
in lat. 58° 15, long. 149° 42. It is fair to assume that this 
bank extends along the south-east shore of Kadiak, as incidental 
and unconnected observations indicate.”— Davidson. 

Here we find a vast nursery of commerce — Behring Sea, 
Unimak, and the Portlock banks, comprising over 100,000 square 
miles of available fishing grounds, greater than those in the 
German Ocean and all the known banks in the North Atlantic, 
including those fringing the British Islands, Shetlands, Faroes, 
Iceland, Greenland, Labrador, Newfoundland, Gulf of St. Law- 
rence, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the New England 
States. On every part of this vast area, plump, solid, sweet 
cod may be taken as fast as they can be dressed and kenched. 
“ The bank where trial was first made for fish was found on the 
fifteenth of September, during a prevalence of thick weather. 
We fortunately seized an opening and obtained good observa¬ 
tions for longitude, with an approximate latitude; the position 
is in lat 53° 35, long. 164° 10, and near it soundings were ob¬ 
tained in fifty fathoms of water, the lead bringing up sand and 
a small starfish. With thick, drizzly weather, the vessel drifted 
to the north-west by the compass, until sixty fathoms were struck, 
with sandy, pebbly bottom ; here the lead-line was baited, and 
while on the bottom the first cod took the hook. The fish proved 
very plenty, fat, and bit eagerly; frequently two were brought 
up on a double-hooked line, and sometimes three were brought 
up on a line with three hooks. The largest measured thirty- 
seven inches in length, and several reached thirty-six inches. 
The finest was thirty-six inches long, twenty-three inches girt, 
and weighed twenty-seven pounds, was very fat, and certainly 
of as fine, if not finer, flavor than cod we had eaten eleven 
months before, freshly caught on the south coast of Newfound¬ 
land. The vessel drifted all the afternoon over this bank with 
the same depth of water, the fish biting well, although they ap¬ 
peared in capital condition, their maws being full of food, such 
as squid, halibut-liead, fish the size of a herring, sea lice, &c.” 
—* Davidson. 

Halibut are found on these banks ; they are smaller than those 
found in the North Atlantic. On a small patch near the island 
of Sanak, west of'the Shumagins, they are found abundantly 
and much larger than those taken in the adjacent waters ; in some 


27 

cases they weigh over 100 lbs. dressed, and are very sweet, 
a In lat. 54° 20, long. 1G2° 30, about nine miles south-east from 
the Sanak leef, we got bottom in thirty-five fathoms, rock and 
barnacles being brought up by the lead. In nearly this last 
locality Cook caught over one hundred halibut* ranging from 
twenty to one hundred pounds each; he therefore applied the 
name of Halibut island to it.” — Davidson. 

The keen, searching fishermen from California and Washing¬ 
ton Territory, have for several years past fished on these grounds ; 
in Bristol Bay and around the Shumagins they have found cod 
and halibut very plenty ; the business has been fairly tried with 
piofitable results. u Next to the fur-trade, in its legitimate 
pursuit, the fisheries off the coast of the new territory will prove 
tne most valuable and certain ; in fact, I consider them the most 
important acquisition to our Pacific coast. As the banks of 
Newfoundland have been to the trade of the Atlantic, so will- 
tlie greater banks of Alaska be to the Pacific, inexhaustible in 
supply of fish that are equal, if not superior in size and quality 
to those of the Atlantic ; and the pursuit there of developing a 
race of seamen yearly decreasing, as our steam marine, merchant 
and naval, is increasing. We have the reiterated and disinte¬ 
rested statements of all the old navigators and fur-traders, that 
every part of the coast abounds in cod, halibut, salmon, and 
every variety of fish inhabiting comparatively cold waters, and 
the experience of the present expedition establishes the truthful¬ 
ness of their descriptions. But the most valuable fish on the 
coast-is the cod, and so far as ascertained, it has already been 
very profitable to those interested in it. . . . The waters 

between the Alaska peninsula and the Shumagin islands are 
well protected from the heavy swell of the Pacific. All the 
California fishing vessels now resort to the grounds about the 
Shumagins, where fish are very plentiful and superior to those 
in the Ochotsk Sea. Among the islands are very good harbors ; 
fresh water is everywhere readily obtained, and some drift-wood 
for fuel may be collected along the shores. But the greatest 
advantage is, that vessels when fishing may always lie under the 
lee of some one of the numerous high islands, thus making 
fishing a much more comfortable business than when riding out 
in the open sea. The kind of bait used here is salted herrings 
from San Francisco, and halibut and sculpinsv caught on the 
ground.” — Davidson. 


28 


Salmon. This dear, aristocratic fish, so scarce in the warmer 
waters of the North Atlantic, fairly revel in and around the 
southern and western shores of this enormous territory- Salmon 
trout are found around the islands on the coast; they congregate 
in millions near the mouths of the mountain gulches, and range 
from twelve to fifteen inches in length, solid and very fat. This 
fish may be taken in great numbers ; packed in small packages 
for mining and other inland consumption, this delicious luxury 
is destined in a few years to take the place of the miserable 
trash of rusty mackerel now poisoning interior communities on 
our continent. Silver salmon are also found around the islands 
in countless numbers ; they generally resort to the small rivers 
on the islands. We observed many of them around the Kadiak 
group ; they are larger than the salmon trout, and may be seined 
in millions. When properly dressed ahd pickled this fish com¬ 
mands a premium in the markets of the world. In the Stickine, 
Copper, Cook, Nooshgak, Yukon, and the larger rivers draining 
the southern and western coasts of the territory, enormous large, 
fat salmon are found. This fish attains extraordinary "size, 
ranging from thirty to fifty, and in some instances, sixty inches 
in length, many of them girting thirty inches ; we have witnessed 
several in Cook’s inlet, divested of head, back-bone and tail, 
cleanly dressed, that weighed over 100 lbs. The waters bathing 
these shores for thousands of miles teem with salmon ; we have 
seen them reveling in these waters twenty leagues off shore; 
they may be taken in sufficient numbers annually to supply 
northern America and Europe, at figures competing with mack¬ 
erel, pork or beef. This sure industry offers the most tempting 
inducements to the energetic young fisherman possessing means 
and pluck. We have great confidence in this fishery, and earn¬ 
estly commend it to the most favorable attention of fishmongers. 
u At some of the entrances to shallow, fresh water streams, the 
water is packed with salmon, and bears come down in numbers 
to feed upon them, selecting the heads only. On some of the 
beaches near these streams the seine will take them in thousands. 
In the bays leading to the streams, at their head on the south¬ 
east side of Alaska peninsula, the salmon are crowded so thickly 
that the progress of a boat is impeded, and should a south-east 
storm arise at such times the fish are driven on the beach in in¬ 
numerable quantities ; one of the Russian navigators assures us 
that he has seen the beach strewn two to three feet thick with the 


29 


stranded, salmon. , , , Seeman says that salmon, so fre- 

quent in Norton Sound, lat 64°, are not found to the northward 
of the river Buckland, emptying into Kotzebue Sound, in lat. 
66° 05; they appear however to be superceded by the mullet, 
which attains considerable size. He obtained, for a blue bead, 
a mullet thirty-three inches long, weighing twenty-one pounds.” 
— Davidson. 

Herring abound in these waters ; they vary in size in different 
localities ; those taken in the waters adjacent to Sitka are small 
and poor; those found in Behring sea are large, plump and fat. 
“ In September, when drawing the seine for salmon at Ilionlionk 
harbor, several herring were obtained of large size, fatter, and 
of much finer flavor than the herring caught on the California 
coast. No information was obtained of the season when they 
visit the coast. They are found in the vicinity of Sitka, and 
doubtless visit the whole sea-board. Portlock mentions that 
when hauling the seine, he caught large quantities of herring 
and some salmon. The herring, though small, were very good, 
and two hogsheads of them were salted for sea stores. Lisian- 
sky says, herring swarm in Sitka Sound every spring. Seeman 
says that herring and whiting are caught in Hotham Inlet, in 
Kotzebue Sound, lat. 67°, in great quantities. . . . The 

herring, besides its own intrinsic value, has an important bear¬ 
ing on the question of the cod-fisheries, in supplying bait, which 
is now carried from San Francisco for that purpose at large pri¬ 
ces.” —- Davidson. 

Fur-bearing animals have, from time immemorial, resorted to 
the shores of Alaska. Cook and other early explorers describe 
those animals in detail; they still bask on that coast in millions, 
and yield rich oil, ivory and peltry, and the fur of the sea otter 
is held in high estimation. The otter has been hunted with 
much ardor by the skilful Aleuts ; the extermination of this ani¬ 
mal in those waters is a mere question of time. “ Of the num¬ 
ber and different varieties of skins obtained from the Indians by 
the Russian-American Company, it is impossible to form an 
opinion, as the Very existence of their trade depended upon the 
secrecy with which it was conducted. That the company has 
been able to maintain a large establishment in persons and ma¬ 
terial is strong circumstantial proof of the value of the trade. 
. . . The immediate traffic of the company has given trade 

to not less than 10,000 Russians, Aleuts and Esquimaux, be- 


80 

sides 5800 Ivoloschlans, who act as inter-traders with the nume¬ 
rous Indians of the interior. The Company has numerous 
stations or factories throughout the length of the coast and 
among the Aleutian islands, maintaining nearly 1000 people 
regularly, two fine steamers and several smaller ones, eight 
barqeus, brigs, etc., and numerous boats. The value of the furs 
may be estimated yearly at not less than $1,000,000 in gold, as 
the company insures their regular shipments for $600,000. By 
the time these furs reach our markets they are doubled in value.” 
— Davidson. 

In our remarks on the branch of the Japanese current washing 
the islands of St. Lawrence, (in another portion of this work), 
we should have also stated that by this strong tide, acting con¬ 
jointly with the westerly winds in the spring months, blowing 
from the Asiatic coast, large fields of ice are crowded into the 
sounds, bays and coves indenting the shores of western Alaska 
margining Behring sea, and are held there for months by the 
action of winds and eddy currents. “ But the whole of the 
waters of the Kamschatka current do not pass through Behring 
Strait. Striking against the south shore of the large island of 
St. Lawrence, part of the waters are deflected to the eastward, 
southward, and finally westward of south, casting their floating 
wood on the American coast and the north shores of the Aleu¬ 
tian islands.” — Davidson. 

On those ice fields the hair seals congregate annually in mil¬ 
lions. They are large and very fat, yielding rich clear oil and 
valuable skins. This industry invites development and offers 
sure reward to hardy seamen of nerve and capital. The seal 
fisheries have been profitably prosecuted for centuries along the 
coasts of northern Europe. The Danes have realized immense 
revenues from this branch of industry around the shores of Ice¬ 
land and Greenland. The expert fishermen on the eastern coast 
of Newfoundland have reaped golden harvests from the seal 
fishing; in the recent spring months an extraordinary number 
were taken. The income from the seal fishery amounted to over 
$2,000,000 in coin. Taking into consideration the temperate 
climate in the Behring sea, the boundless seal fields, the absence 
of icebergs, the smooth water, and the certainty of success* 
may we not look for great development in this inviting industry ? 

Fur Seals, so relentlessly hunted in other climes, have for 
years resorted to the islands of St. Paul and St. George in 


31 


Behring sea. Washington Irving has given this animal historic 
renown. He says: “The Beaver sailed from Astoria on the 
fourth of August, 1812, under the management of Mr. Hunt, 
the local agent of the fur company. He arrived at Sitka on the 
nineteenth of the same month. Count Baranoff, Governor of 
the Russian Fur Company, purchased the cargo, for which he 
gave Mr. Hunt an order for a cargo of fur seal-skins, to be ob¬ 
tained from the factors of the company on St. Paul’s island, in 
lat. 57 north, long. 170° west; this and the neighboring island 
of St. George are covered at certain seasons of the year with 
millions of seals ; the Russians kill the young from seven to ten 
months old, which they drive inland and slaughter as many as 
are required to meet the demand. Mr. Hunt appears to have 
been subjected to much delay by the governor, but finally arrived 
at the islands in November, obtained a full cargo and sailed on 
the twentieth of the same month.” 

This statement proves two important facts germain to our 
subject, first— the moderation of the climate on the parallel of 
57°, in the Behring sea, which enabled a large, square-rigged 
vessel to take a cargo of skins from an exposed island in the 
month of November; secondly— the abundance of seals in 
those rookeries sixty years ago. The Russian Company have 
tenderly nurtured the seals visiting those islands, and prevented 
the indiscriminate slaughter of those animals. It is to be hoped 
that a humane policy may now be followed by our government 
in dealing with fur-seals. 

In the autumn of 1869, Maj. Gen. Thomas, commanding the 
Pacific division of the army, made an official tour to Alaska; 
he visited the rookeries on St. Paul and St. George, and de¬ 
voted several days in observing the habits of those animals. 
In his report he gives a graphic account of the seals, their num¬ 
ber and economy ; he also suggests certain measures for the pro¬ 
tection and preservation of those creatures. He says: “ On 
St. Paul and St. George only are "the fur-bearing seals found 
and killed for their furs and oil. As described by the natives, 
the habits of those animals are very peculiar. About the last 
of April or the first of May, the old male seals arrive at the 
islands and go on shore at the places regularly frequented by 
them, called rookeries ; they make a thorough examination of 
the ground, which occupies some days; soon the great body 
begins to arrive, and in a short time all have come upon shore 


32 


and are collected together in communities or families, each 
family being governed by one of the old seals who possesses suf¬ 
ficient power to maintain his ground and guard them ; the young 
males and superannuated old ones are forced to take their places 
outside of the arena occupied by the families, and if they: at¬ 
tempt to interfere with the domestic arrangements described, 
they are summarily driven off by the heads of families. In 
these troubles many terrible affrays occur. This arrangement 
of the animals on and around the rookeries makes it very simple 
and easy for the native hunters to place themselves between the 
families and the young males, from whom only the skins are 
taken. Parties of forty or fifty, armed with clubs, go out to kill 
the seals ; they get between the families and young males, and 
drive them inland some two or three miles, letting all not wanted 
for slaughter drop out by the way; these return to the rook¬ 
eries. After getting only as many as they can skin and salt in 
one day, to the proper places, they are killed by striking them 
on the nose with clubs. The next day is devoted to packing for 
shipment. By this means the families are not disturbed and 
remain to breed and rear their young. As far as I can judge 
the business of the old males is to compel the females to take 
care of their young until they have grown sufficient to take care 
of themselves ; they then appear to give up all control over the 
families, who are permitted to leave their young and go in the 
water, the old males still guarding and overlooking the young. 
In September all are permitted to enjoy the water, where they 
swim and sport during the day, coming on shore in the evening 
to rest during the night. At this period all move further inland 
and mingle together indiscriminately. If the autumn continues 
mild they remain on the island till the latter part of October, 
when they disappear very suddenly within a day or two, and 
have been seen going through the passes between the Aleutian 
islands, traveling in a southerly direction. Nothing more is 
seen of them until next spring, neither is it known where they 
pass the winter. The number of seals on the island, after the 
young are born, is estimated all the way from Jive to Jifteen mil¬ 
lions; but they are countless , lying in the rookeries , covering hun¬ 
dreds of acres , like sheep in a pen. The habits of these animals 
are such that, if permitted to be hunted by everybody at ran¬ 
dom, they would very soon be driven from the islands. This 
has been proved by the Russians, who totally destroyed some 


rookeries before they learned by experience to treat them. It 
is desirable to protect and perpetuate the fur-bearing seal, and 
one of two plans should be adopted: One is to confine the kill¬ 
ing to the natives, permitting none others but the authorized 
agents of the government to land on the islands; and permit 
traders to visit them to purchase only after the skins have been 
prepared and the seals have left for the south. This course 
would necessitate the stationing of an agent on each of those 
islands to guard the interests of the government, and prevent 
the demoralization of the natives from such unscrupulous tra¬ 
ders as would not hesitate to furnish them with liquor for the 
purpose of cheating them.” — Report of Sec. of War , 1869-70, 
part 1 ,p. 118. 

The value of fur seal skins depends much on age and con¬ 
dition. In London the young pups, (under six months), realize 
about 7s. 6d.; those over that age sell for 20s.; they average 
nearly 12s. 6d. sterling. Basing our figures on the judgment of 
Gen. Thomas, which are affirmed by other authorities, we arrive 
at the conclusion that the seal fur rookeries on St. Paul and 
St. George are richly worth $20,000,000. Those valuable nurs¬ 
eries of commerce were purchased of Russia and paid for by the 
people’s money out of the Federal treasury, and thus have be¬ 
come the common property of the nation. Those of our people 
engaged in commercial pursuits on the coast of Alaska, were 
willing to preserve those seal rookeries to the government in the 
terms of the Indian Intercourse Law, and every fisherman would 
have gladly supported this just policy. The Chamber of Com¬ 
merce of San Francisco — the watchful guardian of our Pacific 
intercourse, concurred in this policy and represented the facts 
to our national Congress at Washington; yet, in the face of all 
our appeals, the “assembled wisdom” of our country have 
bartered away those islands for a mere mess of pottage; Con¬ 
gress has leased the seal rookeries of St. Paul and St. George 
for a term of twenty years, to a monopoly of merchants, receiv¬ 
ing in compensation an annual sum much less than it costs our 
government to protect those islands to the “favored few.” 

This law, passed in the spring of 1870, is as follows: 

AN ACT TO PREYENT THE EXTERMINATION OE EUR-BEARING 
ANIMALS IN ALASKA. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled , That it shall he unlawful to kill 

5 


any fur-seal upon tlie islands of Saint Paul’s and Saint George, or in the 
waters adjacent thereto, except during the months of June, July, Sep¬ 
tember and October, in each year; and it shall be unlawful to kill such 
seals at any time by the use of fire-arms, or use other means tending to 
drive the seals away from said islands: Provided , That the natives of 
said islands shall have the privilege of killing such young seals as may 
be required for their own use, which killing shall be limited and con¬ 
trolled by such regulations as shall be prescribed by the Secretary of 
the Treasury. 

Sec. 2. And he it further enacted , That it shall be unlawful to kill any 
female seal, or any seal less than one year old, at any season of the year, 
except as above provided; and it shall also be unlawful to kill any seal 
in the waters adjacent to said islands, or on the beaches, cliffs, or rocks 
where they haul up from the sea to remairv; and any person who shall 
violate cither of the provisions of this, or the first section of this act, 
shall be punished on conviction thereof, for each offence, by a fine of not 
less than two hundred dollars, nor more than one thousand dollars, or 
by imprisonment not exceeding six months, or by such fine and im¬ 
prisonment both, at the discretion of the court having jurisdiction and 
taking cognizance of the offence; and all vessels, their tackle, apparel, 
and furniture, whose crew shall be found engaged in the violation of 
any of the provisions of this act shall be forfeited to the United States. 

Sec. 3. And he it further enacted , That for the period of twenty years 
from and after the passage of this act the number of fur-seals which 
may be killed for their skins upon the island of Saint George, is hereby 
limited and restricted to twenty-five thousand per annum: Provided, 
That the Secretary of the Treasury may restrict and limit the right of 
killing if it shall become necessary for the preservation of such seals, 
with such proportionate reduction of the rents reserved to the govern¬ 
ment as shall be right and proper; and if any person shall knowingly 
violate either of the provisions of this section he shall, upon due con¬ 
viction thereof, be punished in the same way as is provided herein for 
a violation of the provisions of the first and second sections of this act. 

Sec. 4. And he it further enacted , That immediately after the passage 
of this act the Secretary of the Treasury shall lease for the rental men¬ 
tioned in section six of this act, to proper and responsible parties to the 
best advantage of the United States, having due regard to the interests of 
the government, the native inhabitants, the parties heretofore engaged in the 
trade, and the protection of the seal fisheries, for a term of twenty years 
from the first day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy, the right to 
engage in the business of taking fur-seals on the islands of Saint Paul’s 
and Saint George, and to send a vessel or vessels to said islands for the 
skins of such seals, giving to the lessees of said islands a lease duly 
executed, in duplicate, not transferable, and taking from the lessee or 
lessees of said islands a bond, with Sufficient sureties, in a sum of not 
less than five hundred thousand dollars, conditional for the faithful 
observance of all the laws and requirements of Congress and of the 
regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury shall have due regard to 


85 


the preservation of the seal-fur trade of said islands and the comfort, 
maintenance , and education of the natives thereof. The said lessees shall 
furnish to the several masters of vessels employed by them certified 
copies of the^lease held by them respectively, which shall be presented 
to the government revenue officer for the time being who may be in 
charge at the said islands, as the authority of the party for landing and 
taking skins. 

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted , That at the expiration of said term 
of twenty years, or on surrender or forfeiture of any lease, other leases 
may be made in manner as aforesaid for other terms of twenty years; 
but no persons other than American citizens shall be permitted, by 
lease or otherwise, to occupy said islands, or either of them, for the 
purpose of taking the skins of fur-seals therefrom, nor shall any foreign 
vessel be engaged in taking such skins; and the Secretary of the Treas¬ 
ury shall vacate and declare any lease forfeited if the same be held or 
operated for the use, benefit, or advantage, directly or indirectly, of any 
person or persons, other than American citizens. Every lease shall 
contain a covenant on the part of the lessee that he will not keep, sell, 
furnish, give, or dispose of any distilled spirits or spirituous liquors on 
either of said islands to any of the natives thereof, such person not 
being a physician and furnishing the same for use as medicine; and any 
perspn who shall kill any fur-seal on either of said islands or in the 
waters adjacent thereto, (excepting natives, as provided by this act,) 
without authority of the lessees thereof, and any person who shall 
molest, disturb, or interfere with said lessees, or either of them, or 
their agents or employees in the lawful prosecution of their business, 
under the provisions of this act, shall be deemed guilty of a misde¬ 
meanor, and shall for each offence, on conviction thereof, be punished 
in the ^ame way and by like penalties as prescribed in the second section 
of this act; and all vessels, their tackle, apparel, appurtenances, and 
cargo, whose crews shall be found engaged in any violation of either 
of the provisions of this section, shall be forfeited to the United States; 
and if any person or company, under any lease herein authorized, shall 
knowingly kill, or permit to be killed, any number of seals exceeding 
the number for each island in this act prescribed, such person or 
company shall, in addition to the penalties and forfeitures aforesaid, 
also forfeit the whole number of the skins of the seals killed in that 
year, or, in case the same have been disposed of, then said person or 
company shall forfeit the value of the same. And it shall be the duty 
of any revenue officer, officially acting as such on either of the said 
islands, to seize and destroy any distilled spirits or spirituous liquors 
found thereon: Provided, That such officer shall make detailed report 
of his doings to the collector of the port. 

Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That the annual rental to be reserved 
by said lease shall be not less than fifty thousand dollars per annum, to be 
secured by deposit of United States bonds to that amount, and in addition 
hereto a revenue tax or duty of two dollars is hereby laid upon each fur- 
seal skin taken and shipped from said islands, during the continuance of 


such lease, to be paid into the treasury of the United States ; and the 
Secretary of the Treasury is hereby empowered ancl authorized to make 
all needful rules and regulations for the collection and payment of the 
same, for the comfort, maintenance, education, and protection of the 
natives of said islands, and also for carrying into full effect all the pro¬ 
visions of this act: Provided further, That the Secretary of the Treas¬ 
ury may terminate any lease given to any person, company, or corpo¬ 
ration on full and satisfactory proof of the violation of any of the pro¬ 
visions of this act or the rules and regulations established by him: 
Provided further, that the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized 
to deliver to the owners the fur-seal skins now stored on the islands, on the 
payment of one dollar for each of said skins taken and, shipped away by 
said owners. 

Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That the provisions of the seventh 
and eighth sections of “ An act to extend the laws of the United States 
relating to customs, commerce, and navigation over the territory ceded 
to United States by Russia, to establish a collection district therein, and 
for other purposes,” approved July twenty-seven, eighteen hundred 
and sixty-eight, shall be deemed to apply to this act; and all prosecu¬ 
tions for offences committed against the provisions of this act, and all 
other proceedings had because of the violations of the provisions of this 
act, and which are authorized by said act above mentioned, shall be in 
accordance with the provisions thereof; and all acts and parts of acts 
inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. 

Sec. 8 . And be it further enacted, That the Congress may at anytime 
hereafter alter, amend, or repeal this act. 

This bill of pains and penalties, so loose in the letter, and so 
stringent in its spirit, prohibits the killing of seals even in the 
adjacent ivaters , or on the cliffs or rocks where they haul up from 
the sea to remain. This law has already become an engine of 
much annoyance to our citizens around Alaska. The Secretary 
of the Treasury has construed it in such a spirit as to exclude 
all American fishermen frdm the seal fisheries in the North Pa¬ 
cific Ocean. Instructions, carrying out these restrictions, have 
been issued to all the revenue officers on the north-west coast; 
we append the official Ukase of the Collector of San Francisco, 
and humbly invite the careful attention of our readers to this 
Card: 

Custom House, San Francisco, California, ) 
Collector’s Office, September 28, 1870. 5 

Notice. — In compliance with an order of the Hon. Secretary of the 
Treasury, notice is hereby given that a lease of the Islands of St. Paul 
and St. George, in the Territory of Alaska, has been executed by the 
Secretary of the Treasury to the Alaska Commercial Company, for the 
period of twenty years, from the 1st day of May, 1870, in accordance 
with the provisions of an Act of Congress, entitled “ An Act to Prevent 


8 ? 

the Extermination of Eur bearing Animals in Alaska,” approved July 
1st, 1870, and that by the terms of said lease, and the above mentioned 
Act, the said Company have the exclusive right to engage in the busi¬ 
ness of taking fur seals on said Islands and the Islands adjacent thereto. 
No vessels other than those belonging to said Alaska Commercial 
Company, or to the United States, will be permitted to touch or land at 
either of said Islands, or the Islands adjacent thereto, nor will any 
person be allowed thereon except the authorized agents of the United 
States, and of said Company. 

T. G. PHELPS, Collector of Customs. 

This villainous law, passed ostensibly for the protection of 
far bearing animals, should have been more justly entitled : An 
Act to Enslave the People of Alaska , to Obstruct the Fisheries , 
and to Check the Development of the North-west Coast . By the 
terms of this act the inhabitants of St. Paul, St. George and 
the adjacent islands are strictly walled in, being forbidden any 
intercourse with u the rest of mankindthey are forced by 
necessity to sell their products to the company, and to receive 
such considerations in return as this soulless monopoly may see 
fit to give. The obstructions which the fur company has in 
former years thrown in the way of individual traders and fisher¬ 
men in those regions, are very w'ell known. The subsidized 
federal officers in the interests of the company, have given much 
trouble to private enterprises ; several vessels have been seized, 
on very flimsy pretexts, and sent for trial to San Francisco. 
In every instance those vessels have been liberated, and the 
masters and supercargoes exonerated by the courts. Voj'ages 
have thus been broken up, heavy losses have fallen upon humble 
adventurers, failures have followed, and peaceful commerce has 
been seriously obstructed. Several suits for heavy damages 
are now pending in the courts on the North Pacific coast, 
against the revenue officers formerly serving on the coast of 
Alaska. 

During our sojourn in Alaska we met Gen. J. C. Davis, 
Commander of the Department of Alaska; in him we found a 
kind, Christian officer, free from sordid motives, and strongly 
imbued with the future welfare of the helpless people over whom 
he governed. The opinions of this brave officer deserve 
respect. We submit his expressed views on the “ Fur-Seal 
Monopoly,” and the influence which this privileged body exerts 
over the helpless people dependent upon it. He says : “ Since 
the declaration of Congress, at its last session, of St. Paul and 


Us 

St. Georges islands as special reservations of the government, 
they have been under the control of officers of the revenue ser¬ 
vice, sent there for the purpose of executing the laws prohibiting 
the landing at or killing of fur seals upon them. During my 
official visit there in the beginning of the present summer, and 
whilst engaged in investigating the affairs of the natives, as well 
as the manner in which the troops had performed their duties, 
I learned that, under one pretext and another, privileged parties 
had been permitted to land and remain on those reservations, 
and had been allowed to kill the animals at pleasure. During 
last summer at least 85,000 seals were killed on the two islands ; 
probably more than that number. The pretexts under which 
this was authorized was that of enabling the natives to subsist 
themselves without expense to the government. In an economi¬ 
cal point of view this would seem quite right, but the facts are 
that the natives are cooped upon these islands, where they are 
compelled to work for those private parties or starve ; in other 
words they are to-day in a complete state of slavery. Competition 
in trade has been universally established, and is now pretty well 
understood by the natives and traders throughout the country ; 
wherever the former can paddle his canoe, or the latter penetrate 
with his goods, such is the case. These isolated islands of St. 
Paul and St. George in Behring sea , the richest possessions in 
natural wealth , considering their small area on the continent , form 
the only exceptions. The natives are peaceful, honest, and 
capable of transacting ordinary business quite well, and would 
doubtless improve themselves if they had a fair chance, hut 
their present complete enslavement and robbery by an unscrupulous 
ring of speculators , will ever prevent such progress.” — Report of 
Brevet Maj. Gen. Commanding Department of Alaska, to Sec. 
of War, Aug. 20, 1870. 

If the visible or invisible treasures on the north-west coast, 
or in the waters adjacent, are subject to the caprice of Congress ; 
the acquisition of Alaska is of little value to our people; if 
Congress can thus barter the rich seal rookeries to a few favo¬ 
rites, it may, with an equal show of right, trade off the enormous 
rich salmon fisheries in those waters ; if our national represen¬ 
tatives in Congress assembled, can, in any way , or for any con¬ 
sideration, lease any branch of national industry in or around 
Alaska, they can also grant away Cassius’ ledge, Jeffrey’s bank, 
the shoals of Georges, and all the most valuable fishing grounds 


39 


on the New England coast. The rotten monarchies of Europe, 
long kept together by the “ cohesive power of public plunder,” 
have, by the prestige of public opinion, been forced to withhold 
special privileges from any special class. The British Parlia¬ 
ment, half a century ago, refused to renew the charter of the 
wealthy East India Companya few years ago they withheld 
all special privileges from the powerful Hudson’s Bay Company ; 
no class legislation has passed that body for many years. The 
despotic government of Bussia appears to have caught the in¬ 
spiration of our day and generation, and against the power and 
blandishments of the great fur company, sold out Alaska, root 
and branch, to our government. The Congress of the United 
States, like the Bourbons, “ never learns nor forgets it is high 
time that this body should see the handwriting and give heed. 
It is to be hoped that wiser counsels may yet prevail and that 
this odious law may be repealed before it is too late; u other 
men in other times ” will repair the damage ; in the meantime 
our diminutive Congressmen may learn “ that there is a greater 
power behind the throne than the throne itself.” Sincerely 
believing that the u Fur Franchise” in Alaska is obstructive to 
the development of the vast resources latent in those regions, 
subersive of the best interest of the people of that territory, 
and embarrassing to the traders and fishermen in and around 
those shores, w r e most earnestly ask Congress to repeal that 
odious measure and let “justice be done though the heavens 
fall.” 

Walrus are abundant around the Behring Sea ; they are very 
large and fat, yielding considerable oil and ivory. Walrus hides 
have, of late years, been used for various purposes; it makes 
good belting for mills; when properly tanned it polishes well, 
and is very generally used in burnishing cutlery, ivory and sundry 
hard surfaces. The island of St. Lawrence affords a genial 
nursery for those animals, and many are slaughtered annually by 
the whalemen. This business offers profitable rewards to am¬ 
bitious young men of nerve and money. “ Walrus ivory. Coal 
harbor, on the north side of the island of Unga, has been the 
point for receiving the tusks obtained from the walrus islands, 
on the north side of the Alaska peninsula. During the winter 
the walrus is said to be driven by great bodies of ice into the 
bay, thirty miles long and ten miles wide, embracing the walrus 
islands. Here the natives kill them, secure their tusks and trade 


40 


them to an employee of the Russian-American Company sta¬ 
tioned at the store-house in Mollier’s Bay, at the mouth of a 
small stream in lat. 55° 55, long. 160° 41; thence the stock is 
carried on the shoulders of the natives, or on dog sledges, across 
the peninsula to the head of Portage Bay, twelve miles deep by 
four miles wide, lying N.N.W. and S.S.E. by compass, and di¬ 
rectly north of Unga island. In Portage Bay they are met by 
another body of natives in their bydarkas or skin canoes from 
Coal harbor, whither the tusks are transported. In some seasons 
ten tons of these tusks are secured by the Indians, and are 
valued at seventy cents, gold, per pound at Sitka. Large quan¬ 
tities of tusks are obtained by trade and capture by the Arctic 
whalers, who also try out the oil. The skin of the walrus is 
used by the Aleuts and Esquimaux for constructing their large 
traveling boats, called biadars, capable of carrying ten tons of 
freight. At the saw-mill on Woody island, opposite St. Paul, 
the walrus hide is successfully used for heavy belting. The 
systematic hunting of the walrus, prompted by the better prices 
than have been paid by the barely life sustaining tariff of the 
Russian-American Company, will develope this valuable branch 
of industry. Arctic whalers just from those waters, assure us 
that the number of these animals is incalculable. Near Point 
Mulgrave, in the Arctic, Cook found them in great numbers ; 
one weighed 854 pounds, and they are generally about the size 
of an ox. Near Cape Lisburn the number of walrus is almost 
incredible; his crew liked their flesh and called it ‘ marine 
beef.’ ” — Davidson. 

Whales are regular visitors to the coast of Alaska; the 
abundance of small fish and other whale feed in those waters 
attracts the huge monsters to those shores. The Gulf of Alaska, 
Bristol Bay and the Arctic Ocean are familiar cruising grounds 
to the whalers. The great bow-head, rich in oil and bone, preys 
constantly on the finny tribe. This branch of fishing has been 
carried on for years in those regions with good results, and may 
be carried on profitably from Puget Sound, which offers eveiy 
facility for “ plum pudding,” or short season whaling. “ The 
waters surrounding the territory of Alaska have always been 
celebrated for their whale fisheries, and the Russian-American 
Company formerly paid some attention to this branch of industry 
and profit, and had surveys made in Cook’s Inlet for ascertaining 
the proper anchorages and harbors for their whalers in winter. 


41 


They even established a shipbuilding establishment in Insur¬ 
rection bay, on the eastern shore of Kenay peninsula, and em¬ 
ployed an English superintendent; but as the whaling was not 
so remunerative as the fur trade, them whole efforts were directed 

to the full legitimate development of that business. 

Captain Bryant says that Fairweather ground is, at proper 
seasons, the great receptacle of the mollusk called whale’s food, 
a minute animal about the size of a flax seed, and having: a 
gelatineous consistency; myriads of them cover the ocean like 
a scum. This mollusk drifts along with the coast current toward 
the west at the rate of about one mile per hour. During this 
season the sea and all the adjacent bays are filled with whales. 
The mollusk collects under the lea of the submarine range of 
Pamplona. The whaling season continues from the last of June 
to the middle of July. About Analaska we saw numbers of 
sperm whales in September, and in August the sperm whaler 
4 William Gifford ’ was entering the north strait of Kadiak to fill 
up, reporting as having left the coast of Queen Charlotte’s 
islands, where four other sperm whalers were fishing that season. 
The 4 Gifford ’ had been out from New Bedford since 1863, her 
time being five years. She had sent home 2700 barrels of 
sperm oil, worth $90,000 in gold, and had on board 400 barrels 
more, intending to take nothing but sperm whale until near the 
end of her cruise. For the last six years the whaling fleet of 
the Arctic has averaged not less than eighty vessels, of which 
seventy belonged to the United States. Their average catch in 
those water amounts to not less than 1200 barrels each, and 
about 30,000 pounds of whalebone. The principal reason given 
by the whalers for prefering the Arctic regions over the Gulf of 
Alaska is, the shallower water. . . . The command of all 

the bays and straits of the north-west coast resorted to by 
whales gives very great advantages to our whalers, and need 
only be mentioned to be appreciated; fishing at all seasons, 
opportunities to winter and refit, depots for cargoes, and regu¬ 
larity in transhipping thence to the east or to the Pacific ports. 
It opens the broad question whether whaling cannot be more ef¬ 
fectually and more profitably done in smaller vessels, specially 
designed and constructed for capturing the whale, and then 
storing the oil at some depot in the Behring sea where it can be 
regularly shipped to its destination, while the vessel, working 
until the latest day of the season, discharges her crew of Aleuts 

6 


among their island homes, and lays up for the winter is Alaskain 
harbors, ready for the whaling grounds at the earliest opening 
of spring. If this be done, with the increased knowledge of the 
whale’s habits and the aptitude of the Aleuts, the American 
whalers can sweep the field of foreign competition.” — Davidson . 

Sardines, smelts, candlefish, and other small but valuable fish 
congregate in vast numbers in and around Alaska. In sailing 
along that coast the treasures of the deep are ever present; the 
untold wealth there latent surpassetli knowledge. This bound- 
* less and inexhaustible nursery of commerce fairly puzzles the 
will and completely captivates the thinking mind in contem¬ 
plating a theme so grand. The fishing resources bordering on 
Alaska are five times more extensive and ten times more valua¬ 
ble than those now available in the North Atlantic Ocean. 
This important acquisition to our national wealth is richly 
worth one hundred millions of gold dollars , and is destined to 
nurture a great commerce in those regions, and cover the North 
Pacific Ocean with swift clipper vessels. 

Population of Alaska comprises various tribes of Indians, 
and a remnant of Russians. They are found in communities 
along the entire coast, and it is difficult to ascertain their num¬ 
bers, as they are migratory in their habits. The interior re¬ 
gions of the territory are as yet unexplored, and little is known 
concerning the tribes remote from the shores. In every part of 
this boundless coast, open to navigation, people are found in 
considerable numbers ; they have been computed as ranging in 
numbers from fifty to sixty thousand. Those domiciled near 
the shore have been reared under the iron heel of Russian des¬ 
potism. They are docile and subservient. They have been 
nurtured in the admonition of the Greek Church, and are gen¬ 
erally devoted to the doctrines and discipline of that venerable 
institution. In the more prominent towns they have had the 
benefits of schools, and the rudiments of education have been 
disseminated among them. In their relations with strangers 
they are kind and hospitable, and very honest; in mechanical 
ingenuity commendable progress is manifest. They build sub¬ 
stantial boats and make tight fish casks. They display some 
craftiness in capturing the sea otter and the larger monsters in 
those waters; in developing the fisheries the expert Aleutes 
will render valuable services. “ The Aleutes are very distinct 
in their looks* manners* language and customs from all other 


is 

Indians of the northwest, and many of them bear a close re¬ 
semblance to the less marked of the Japanese, so much so that 
a question at once arises whether this people has not been di¬ 
rectly derived from castaway or shipwrecked inhabitants of 
Japan, carried thither by the Kamschatka branch of the great 
Japanese stream. . . . They are quiet, patient people, gift¬ 

ed with a great deal of ingenuity, and always trusted by the 
Russians. The priest of the Unalaska district is an Aleut, and 
a man of more than ordinary ability and taste. The surgeon of 
the Company’s Service at Ilionlionk, now of the Coast Survey 
Tidal Observer, is also a full blooded native, who has acquitted 
himself creditably in his observations. Many of the block hou¬ 
ses of the Russian Company are constructed by the Aleutes, 
and the church at Ilionlionk is a good specimen of their work¬ 
manship ; even the capitals of the interior wooden columns 
were carved by them with rude means. They make skillful me¬ 
chanics, and the principal mechanician and instrument repairer 
at Sitka is an Aleut, who early displayed great talent, and was 
sent at the Company’s expense to St. Petersburg, where he 
learned the business of an optician. His workmanship exhibits 
talent that needed a large field to develop. . . . The thirty- 

eight charts of Tebenhoff \s atlas were drawn and engraved up¬ 
on copper by a half-breed ’ Aleut named Kadin. The bidarkas 
or skin canoes of the Aleutes, constructed for one, two or three 
persons, are fine specimens of ingenuity and form; the light 
frame is constructed of wood. ... In the management of 
those canoes they display cool courage and thorough knowledge 
of their capabilities. ... As models they are not excelled 
by any of those seen on the Pacific coast; and as simple me¬ 
chanical constructions, they are vastly superior to any south¬ 
ward. Their large skin boats, biadars, capable of carrying 
from forty to sixty persons, were used in trading between 
distant islands as far as St. Paul and St. George, when the 
Russians first reached the country. They are still in use, and 
were employed at Ulakhta harbor to coal the steamer. The 
Aleutes are very ingenious in their traps for catching the small 
fur-bearing animals—very neat in their spears, walrus barbs, 
and sinew-twine—and apt in adopting the simplest means to ob¬ 
tain their ends. . . . They sqon become very handy with 

the use of ordinary tools, do good blacksmith work, use the 
lathe, etc., but, unfortunately, have had few incentives to con- 


44 


tinned industry and improvement. ... In carving figures 
from walrus tusks, or the tusks of the fossil mammoth found in 
Kotzebue Sound, the Aleutes display patience, and in many ca¬ 
ses considerable ingenuity, constructing out of walrus tusks 
small figures of hunters, rock, seal and fish, representing the 
practice of seal-hunting, making mimic representations of their 
dancing and musical entertainments, etc. In hunting the sea- 
otter and seal they exhibit their tenacity of purpose by watching 
for days at a time rather than lose the object of their pursuit. 
They do not use the bow and arrow, but the small ivory-headed 
spear, thrown with the aid of a hand-board, and their exhibi¬ 
tions of skill proved their expertness and proficiency. Most of 
the crews of the Russian Company’s vessels are composed of 
Aleutes. Another peculiarity in their favor:—at Unalaska, 
whenever a woman was one of two or three persons in a bidarka, 
she was not compelled to use the paddle, as we have heretofore 
invariably seen on the Pacific coast. The women are very in¬ 
genious in making a great variety of stitches in their sewing, 
and those of Unalaska have always been noted for skill in the 
beauty of their sewing. No murder has been committed among 
the Aleutes for the last fifty-two years, and when the last oc¬ 
curred the whole race was horror-struck.”— Davidson. 

The Christian inhabitants of Alaska, doCile, kind and hospit¬ 
able, expert in mechanism and skillful in maritime adventure, 
possessing sufficient intelligence and self-pride, and in every 
respect worthy to enjoy “ life, liberty and the pursuit of happi¬ 
ness,” became citizens of our Great Republic by no act of theirs. 
By a dash of the pen they were guaranteed all the rights, privi¬ 
leges and immunities of American citizens in the terms of the 
treaty of March 30, 1867, as follows : “ The inhabitants of the 
ceded territory, according to their choice, reserving their natural 
allegiance, may return to Russia within three years ; but if they 
should prefer to remain in the ceded territory, they (with the ex¬ 
ception of the uncivilized native tribes) shall be admitted to the 
enjoyment of all the rights, advantages and immunities of citi¬ 
zens of the United States, and shall be maintained and protected 
in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property and religion. 
The uncivilized tribes will be subject to such laws and regula¬ 
tions as the United States may from time to time adopt in regard 
to aboriginal tribes of the country.” 

Notwithstanding the explicit assurances of the treaty, the 


45 

people of Alaska have only “ jumped out of the frying-pan into 
the fire.” From the day in which they were officially transferred 
to our protection theyjhave groaned under the weight of martial 
law , as administered by military Brevets. President Grant has 
sent a powerful Armada to the island of San Domingo, and has 
lavished untold treasures on the savage negroes there, and is 
still battling against an irrevocable decree of nature in his vain 
efforts to elevate the “ outside barbarians ” to the lofty dignity 
of American citizenship. If the President is so very earnest to 
promote the denizens of other lands to the enjoyment of our 
national freedom and happiness, then we humbly submit that 
the Presidential charities should begin nearer home. Our own 
fellow-citizens in Alaska are ground down u in the bonds of in¬ 
iquity,” and we do know that those helpless people, too long held 
“ in the gall of bitterness,” are patiently waiting for “ the good 
time coming,” in which, under the aegis of civil government, 
they may enjoy the products of their own labor in security. 
Fifty thousand Christians in our newly acquired territory, long¬ 
ing for the enjoyment of our rights and privileges, are loudly 
clamoring for their just inheritancy which the plighted faith of 
our government has promised to them. Congress has been 
faithless to those people, and it is high time that humane laws 
should be enacted for their protection; they are eminently 
worthy of all the favors conferred by the treaty; the develope- 
ment of the vast resources of that great territory, the successful 
prosecution of the fisheries, and the commerce already inaugu¬ 
rated, demands the protection of Admiralty courts and kindred 
institutions to regulate the trade and exchange among the in¬ 
dustrious people in our new domain. We earnestly hope our 
government will now extend some protection and dispense jus¬ 
tice to the people of Alaska. 

The rich territory of Louisiana was a valuable acquisition to 
our whole country, particularly to the agricultural interest; the 
annexation of California was also opportune and of immense 
value to our metallic circulation. The statesmen who consum¬ 
mated those patriotic measures were, in their respective periods, 
libelled and traduced. “ Time, that spares no lenient hand,” 
has clearly demonstrated the wisdom of those sages in acquiring 
those territories. The purchase of the great territory of Alaska 
forms a wise step in the right direction; the boundless waters 
washing that continent teeming with imperishable wealth, affords 



an immense nursery for rearing a grand commerce oh the north¬ 
west coast. The venerable statesman who has accomplished 
that grand consummation, has also in his turn been one of the 
“best abused men in America,” but “Time, that makes all 
things even,” has already proved the immense value of u Time’s 
noblest offspring.” The illustrious secretary has been spared to 
see with his own eyes the rich domain which his energy and 
patriotism acquired; he has left his footprints on the north-west 
coast, where his praises will be chanted by unborn generations 
as “ one of the few, the immortal names, not born to die.” In 
acquiring Alaska we obtained the key to Behring sea and the 
Arctic ocean, with all the rich treasures reveling in those waters. 
We have, in addition, gained a permanent footing in eastern 
Asia, and opened the unlimited resources around those shores 
to our industry. 

Siberia, extending from the parallel of 50° to 70° north, 
with its sounds, gulfs, bays and coves, draining large rivers, 
and fringed with the Saghalien, Kurile, Copper, Behring and 
other islands, besides the unexplored coast extending from East 
Cape northwestward, is now opened to American enterprise. 
Those shores, washed with the warm stream from Japan, having 
a high thermal temperature, teem with cod, salmon, otter, seal, 
walrus and great whales. The coast margining those waters is 
reported rich in minerals — diamonds, gold, silver and the baser 
metals. Furs are abundant, some of which are very fine and 
valuable. Siberian sables are trapped on that coast, and com¬ 
mands fabulous prices; ermine and other fine furs are also ob¬ 
tained. The most favored cod grounds are located between the 
parallels of 52° and 55° north, where very solid fish are taken ; 
vessels from San Francisco make annual trips to those waters 
with profitable results. Silver salmon are found abundantly in 
the rivers; cattle, pigs, dogs and wild beasts take them for food ; 
they are lean and poor, owing to the warmth of the water. 
Seals congregate along the coast, some favored rookeries being 
found among the Kerule islands, to which the seal hunters resort 
annually. This coast has, from time immemorial, been a most 
genial resort for the walrus; they are taken in great numbers 
by the whalers, and also by the Esquimaux for food. “ When 
Kotzebue was at anchor on the north side of East Cape, thous¬ 
ands of walrus played around his ship and roared like oxen; 
among them appeared several whales.”--* Davidson. 


The warm current running continually northward through 
Behring strait carries the ice-fields away, and affords clear scope 
to the whalers. The shoalness of the Arctic, the mildness of 
the climate, and the 4 blessed power of sunshine,’ facilitates the 
capture and cutting in of the huge fat whales. Good fares have 
been obtained late in the month of October as high as the 73°. 
This fact demonstrates the genial temperature prevailing in 
those regions. “Barque ‘Helen Snow,’ Capt. Campbell, re¬ 
ports:—Left Japan, April 14tli, made the ice 8th of May, lat. 
60° 10 north, Ion. 116° east; took first whale 17th of August; 
the last, Oct. 2d, lat. 70° 50 north, Ion. 163° 40 west; Oct. 
4th, kept off for the strait.”— Hav. Gazette , Nov. 9, 1870. 

“ The Kamschatka current after passing through Behring 
Strait inclines toward the coast of America, as is fully proved 
by the existence of driftwood along the shores and in the waters 
of the current, while little or none is found on the Asiatic coast 
or in the waters adjacent. We have this season conversed with 
whaling captains who left the Arctic as late as Oct. 12th, and 
their experience of years confirms the above statements. This 
current passes through Behring Strait with a velocity. . . . 

Moreover, the interesting fact may be stated that there has rare¬ 
ly been such an open season in the Arctic as that just passed. 
Capt. Williams went as far westward as 188°, and had nothing 
but open sea before him. Capt. Thomas went as far as 72° 55.” 
— Davidson. 

Population, Two hundred years ago all that region watered 
by the Amoor river was Tartar in every respect, today it is 
Russian. The population is mainly composed of criminal con¬ 
victs or political exiles, some of whom are of noble birth, all 
banished from the western dominions of the Czar; many arose 
from the lowest servitude in the mines, and by industry and 
sobriety have become proprietors of large tracts of land and 
considerable wealth. This element, though basking in affluence, 
seldom obtains the imperial pardon or leave to visit their native 
country. A very large majority of these exiles never hope or 
even look for the privilege of leaving those regions; they are 
compelled to waste their sweetness on the frigid air of that 
country, unless they take “ French leave ” and pass over the 
steppes of Asia among the Tartars, who are hospitable to the 
exiles and usually welcome them to their country. Many of the 
political exiles arc at liberty to labor at any vocation, *and to 


0 


subsist as they may deem proper. This class forms the bone 
and sinew in Siberia; they have consummated nearly all the 
development in that country, and have obtained valuable fran¬ 
chises through friends at St. Petersburg to work the rich mines ; 
large fortunes have thus been acquired. This vast coast, rich in 
minerals and other resources, far from the Russian capital, 
beyond the power of the imperial government, and within the 
influence of our country, with a population nurtured in liberal 
ideas and cultivating higher aspirations for freedom, this ro¬ 
mantic domain, with its liberty-loving exiles, long buried in 
despotic darkness, are now casting longing looks and affectionate 
glances across the sea towards our great Republic. A vast trade 
from San Francisco has been inaugurated there; about a hun¬ 
dred American vessels fish in those waters and trade in the 
harbors ; our canvas whitens the seas, sounds, bays and coves, 
and the stars and stripes may be seen in every creek and cove, 
reviving the hopes and stimulating broader and higher emulation 
among the “ exiles of Siberia.” 

Temperature. The temperature of the waters bathing the 
shores of Siberia is much warmer than on the coast of Alaska 
on corresponding parallels. The currents are regular, and their 
directions and strength are reliably ascertained; the needle 
moves with gradual motion; the variation is extremely high, 
being 30 ° in some localities ; barometer, thermometer and chro¬ 
nometer perform their respective functions regularly, and enjoy 
the confidence of navigators. The winds in those seas prevail 
in the summer and autumn very regular from the southwest; 
during the winter months southeast winds with rain are ex¬ 
perienced; cold snaps are invariably accompanied with north 
and westerly winds. The north-easterly gales are disagreeable, 
being in most cases tempered with snow and sleet. Hurricanes 
are seldom met; the winds when free from mountain influence 
are steady, tempests are seldom experienced, and little damage 
to vessels is recorded from this element; the waves are of mod¬ 
erate elevation, and run with regularity. Mountain swells are 
unknown, and the wear of vessels is much less than in the west- ' 
era ocean. The loss of vessels employed in the whaling and 
salt fishing around the northwest coast for the past five years, 
are few; two of the cod fleet are missing, while half a dozen of 
the whaling vessels have been crushed by the action of the ice, 
the heroic masters of those ships choosing to remain late in 


these waters under the stimulating temptation of the great rich 
whale reveling in those seas. The premium on marine risks is 
much lower than on any other coast; the ocean tides are sub¬ 
ject to great variations, and in Cook’s Inlet, which resembles 
the Bay of Bundy in many physical aspects, the Spring tides 
ebb and flow nearly forty feet. This physical arrangement af¬ 
fords timely opportunities for repairing, cleaning and painting 
vessels. 

Salt. The great Pacific Ocean, though much colder than the 
Atlantic, yet contains strong saline properties. The waters 
washing the southern coast of California are prolific in salt, 
vast quantities are gathered on the islands in the Santa Barbara 
channel. The rocky ledges margining those islands are covered 
with strong salt formed by solar evaporation; the people re¬ 
siding along those shores gather up sufficient quantities yearly 
to satisfy their domestic wants. The lagoons fringing the bay 
of San Francisco produce considerable salt, which is diluted 
with lime and alkali. The waters of Puget Sound, though con¬ 
stantly tempered Avith fresh streams from the mountains, yield 
clean salt; the writer manufactured some by solar evaporation, 
and produced a pure white article. The cheapness of lumber, the 
low, level sandspits and clear, bracing north-west winds in that 
sunny valley renders the manufacture of salt a paying industry. 
On our recent journey from the Pacific we examined several 
samples of salt made from the waters of Salt Lake in Utah. 
The dryness of the atmosphere and the powerful heat of the 
sun’s rays in that region, fringes the lake shores with large 
quantities of salt. The samples exhibited to us Avere white, 
clean and sweet, and resembled Cadiz salt. This valuable 
article has been subjected to severe chemical tests at Vassar 
College, New York, and, as compared with the celebrated salt 
from Turk’s Island, presents the following results : 


TURK’S ISLAND. 


SALT LAKE. 


Pure Salt, or Chlo. of Sodium, 

96.76 

Pure Salt, or Chlo. of Sodium, 

97.76 

Chlo. of Magnesia, 

.14 

Chlo. of Magnesia, 

.60 

Sulphate of Magnesia, 

.64 

Sixlphate of Magnesia, 

.OS 

“ Lime, 

1.56 

“ Lime, 

1.03 

Water, 

.96 

AVater, 

1.28 


This scientific analysis establishes the superiority of the Salt 
Lake salt; it may be produced by natural process to any extent. 
This is by far the best article we have seen in any country, and 
avc do most earnestly recommend the manufacture of it to prac- 

7 


tical men of means and experience. Mr. Mitchell, at Salt 
Lake city, lias cured and barreled this salt for several years 
past; we bespeak good returns for his labor. The fishermen 
along the north-west coast will, in future years, consume vast 
quantities of this superior salt, and we anticipate great and 
profitable development in this valuable branch of our Pacific 
industry. 

Curing Fish. The sunny atmosphere and clear trade winds 
on the northwest coast are equally effective in drying fish. In 
the vicinity of the Golden Gate the climate is subject to great 
changes. During the Summer and Autumn months the warm 
balmy mornings are usually succeeded by damp, chilly evenings, 
often aggravated by dense fogs. The extremes in climate ren¬ 
ders the drying of cod very tedious. At Salcelleto we noticed 
several crews engaged in curing their fares. From them we 
learned that it required as much time to cure cod in the Bay of 
San Francisco, as it did to catch the cargo at sea. From careful 
observations we conclude that the Bay of San Francisco is not 
adapted to curing cod or halibut. The level shores margining 
Puget Sound offer every facility for drying fish,—the temperate 
rays of the sun, the clear, bracing winds prevailing in that val¬ 
ley from May till November, the thermal temperature of the 
coast, regulated by the stream from Asia, combined with other 
natural causes, renders those shores the most available base for 
developing the fishing industry. The southern shores of Alas¬ 
ka, as before stated, are lofty and rugged, and subject to heavy 
rains. The broad alluvial plateau bordering on the eastern 
shores of Cook’s Inlet enjoys a bracing climate for several 
months in each year. Fish may be cured in that locality in au¬ 
tumn with certainty. The islands fringing the peninsula of 
Alaska and some of the Aleutian islands afford facilities for 
drying and curing all kinds of fish. Various other localities on 
this vast coast are well adapted, which the practical fishermen 
in future years will make subservient to their necessities. The 
gifts so lavishly strewn around these shores will, in the fulness 
of time, be made to contribute to the nurture and comfort of 
man. 

Cooperage has heretofore ruled high on the northwest coast, 
the demand for spirit, wine, beer and oil casks taxed the ener¬ 
gies of the coopers to their utmost, and they have realized exor¬ 
bitant prices. The steam factory in San Francisco supplies ev- 


ery demand at reasonable figures—fair, tight barrels, iron-hooped* 
being obtained at that establishment for one dollar in coin. 
White spruce, found on the coast, affords good material for 
staves and headings. Oak, locust, hazel, and other saplings 
abound; thus coopering materials are found in sufficient quan¬ 
tities convenient to navigation. 

Groceries, The Sandwich Islands, so near our states and 
territories on the Pacific, produce sugar, syrup, coffee, salt, and 
other products of prime necessity. For nearly a century those 
islands have been favored resorts to American vessels, partic¬ 
ularly to those engaged in trading on the northwest coast, or 
whaling. The benefits lavished by our citizens on the natives 
have been appreciated, and a strong attachment to our people 
is general among the islanders. The discovery of gold in Cali¬ 
fornia and the rush to the mines have stimulated our relations 
with those people, and our commercial intercourse with them 
has increased, and is yearly becoming greater. So mutual has 
our affairs become that the hope is justified that in a few years 
those islands will form an important division of our country. 
A treaty of reciprocity in trade between our country and the 
Sandwich Islands still pends the action of our national legisla¬ 
ture. The consummation of this just measure is earnestly 
hoped for at an early day. The admission of Sandwich Islands 
produce, free of duties, will enable the fishermen on the north¬ 
west coast to obtain salt and groceries cheaper than on the At¬ 
lantic coast. Nearly all the leading articles, whether of fuel or 
food—wood, coal, pork, beef, flour, bread or lard, are cheaper 
than the same articles can be purchased in the markets of New 
England. 

Markets. The markets for Pacific fish are already exten¬ 
sive, and yearly increasing. The Spanish Republics of Mexico, 
Central and South America, the Sandwich Islands, Australia, 
China and Japan have for several years taken our salmon, and 
the demand is largely on the increase. About 1,000,000 of 
hearty Anglo-Americans, Germans, and other nationalities are 
permanently domiciled in our states and territories on the Pa¬ 
cific slope. The trans-continental railroads have opened the 
valleys of the Platte, Missouri and Mississippi, all densely set¬ 
tled with hard-working farmers. The completion of the North 
Pacific Railroad from Puget Sound to Lake Superior, over a fer¬ 
tile bench of country, fast filling up with yeomanry, those 


’ 52 

broad avenues will open a vast and profitable market to our 
fishermen, where the sweet fish of our cold waters will be large¬ 
ly consumed. The Northern Pacific Railroad will enable our 
fishermen to send the products of the seas—oil, bone, ivory, 
pelts and furs by the way of the Canadian canals, and connecting 
with ocean steamships on the St. Lawrence to Europe. Our 
salmon will be shipped to every market in North America and 
Western Europe. On our fishermen devolves the grand duty of 
furnishing this fish at such prices as will place it within the 
reach of all. 

The merchants along the northwest coast have engaged in de¬ 
veloping the resources of Alaska and Siberia with good results. 
Nearly two hundred vessels have entered those waters the pres¬ 
ent season in quest of cod, salmon, otter, seal, walrus, whale 
and other products. From the most reliable data at hand we 
estimate the value of the products from those regions for the 
present year will approach five millions of dollars in coin. In 
view of our unlimited shores, genial climate, extensive fishing 
grounds, teeming with the treasures of the deep, forests prime¬ 
val—cedars, spruce, fir and hemlock; our untold facilities for 
shipbuilding; minerals—coal, iron, copper, silver, gold and dia¬ 
monds ; furs—otter, seal, walrus, fox, marten, deer, wolf, bear, 
panther, ermine and sable—all accessible to safe harbors, laved 
with the warm stream from the Indies, tempering the winds to 
the shorn lamb, abating the wear and exposure of men and ves¬ 
sels. In view of the prolific wealth here latent, the broad invi¬ 
ting fields now open, what rich avenues are here for the ener¬ 
getic young men of our country ? What broad channels are 
opened to the American fishermen of nerve and cash. In a de¬ 
sire to compress our theme, we have passed over several items 
incident to our subject. We now propose to demonstrate our 
preference for the most available locality for developing the re¬ 
sources of the northwest coast, in — 

A PLEA FOR PUGET SOUND. 

Previous to the acquisition of Alaska, Washington Territory 
formed the northwestern angle of our country; it is now the 
central focus of our possessions on the Pacific slope. This 
region is bounded on the north by British Columbia, on the east 
by Idaho, on the south by Oregon, and on the west by the Pa- 


i 


I 


53 

ciflc Ocean, the Strait de Fuca and the Gulf of Georgia; it 
contains about 70,000 square miles in area. 

Topography. The topography of this region presents ro¬ 
mantic scenery, lofty, snow-clad mountains, broken hills, green 
valleys, bleak prairies and verdant marshes. The range of 
mountains traversing the Pacific slope, known as the Sierra Ne- 
vadas, extend through this territory on a north and westerly 
course and assume the name of Cascades, from the numerous 
streams issuing from and pouring down the gorges in that 
range. These mountains form a continuous divide, through 
which some abrupt chasms are found ; high, frosted domes, soar¬ 
ing up, are visible. Baker, Ranier, St. Helen’s and Adams’ 
attain lofty altitudes ; Mount Hood boasts the highest elevation. 
The Olympic or coast range, runs parallel with the shore ; this 
lofty crest rears high in the region of clouds, a self-sustaining 
beacon, affording a reliable land-mark to mariners. In October, 
1870, we had a plain view of this mountain from the barque 
“ Scotland,” Capt. McLellan estimating his vessel 100 miles 
distant. “ The river of the west ” drains this territory ; it pur¬ 
sues a meandering course from the north, and finally to the west, 
and forms a portion of the southern boundary. The broad val- 
ley, sandwiched between the Cascades on the east, and the 
Olympic mountains on the west, forms the plateau margining 
the Mediterranean of the north-west coast, known by the gene¬ 
ral name of 

Puget Sound. This deep blue sea extends from Cape Flat¬ 
tery, the north-west angle of the territory, and pursues an 
easterly course for nearly eighty miles ; thence in a south-eastern 
direction for about sixty miles to the Narrows, and flows to the 
southward for nearly thirty miles to the falls of Tumwater, the 
head of navigation. Mr. James Lawson of the coast survey, 
has carefully computed the shore line as follows: 


Strait de Fuca, - 

Rosario Strait, Canal de Haro and the 

161 miles. 

Gulf of Georgia, - 


- 

627 “ 

Admiralty Inlet, 

- 

- 

324 “ 

Puget Sound proper, 

- 

- 

280 “ 

Hood’s Canal, 

- 

- 

192 “ 


Total shore line, - - - 1594 “ 

Climate. The climate of this valley varies in different sec- 



u 

tions, and the temperature is much higher than that of corrcs* 
ponding parallels on the Atlantic slope ; it is similar to that of 
the British islands. The warm stream from the Indies spends 
its force in those regions. This great current, originating in the 
warm waters of the tropics, rushing to the northward, bathing 
the shores of eastern Asia, crossing the north Pacific, laving 
the southern shores of the Aleutian islands, the peninsula of 
Alaska, the Kadiak bend and Sitka bight, wastes its strength on 
the coast of British Columbia, and finally subsides in the valley 
of Puget Sound. The winds from the westward accompanying 
this warm current, absorb its thermal qualities, fans our shores, 
rushes through the Cascades, lights upon the basin of the Co¬ 
lumbia, dissolves mountain snows and valley frosts, stimulates 
vegetation and makes the passes of the Pocky Mountains, even 
in the winter season, the chosen pastures for the buffalo and 
grass-feeding animals from the frigid regions in the south. 

In another portion of this work we stated some of the most 
prominent indications arising from the westerly winds in the 
eastern division of Washington Territory and in British Colum¬ 
bia. The same agencies are ever manifest along the Puget 
Sound valley. We claim a more genial climate and a higher 
temperature thap. prevailing along the shores of Oregon and 
Northern California. In the severe seasons of the most rigid 
winter months thousands of cattle and sheep have perished in 
those States. We have not witnessed any heavy losses in stock 
from cold or hunger during our sojourn of ten years in the Puget 
Sound country. “The climate of western Washington differs 
essentially from that experienced east of the Cascade mountains. 

. . . Properly speaking there are but two seasons on the 

borders of Puget Sound — the rainy and the dry. The grades 
of temperature and the accompaniment, which in other countries 
on the same latitude ascribe the features and title to the four 
seasons —* spring, summer, autumn and winter, are here in a 
great measure obliterated, or at least so dimly marked that the 
seasons imperceptibly run into each other and lose their dis¬ 
tinctive line of division. It is not unusual for the three winter 
months to be mild, without snow or ice, the grass growing mean¬ 
while. In February the weather may occur mild and genial as 
May, to be succeeded in March or April with colder weather. 
The maximum temperature of some days in July and August 
will reach 00° or 100°, sometimes followed by cold nights. 


oo 


The rainy season proper begins late in October or early in No¬ 
vember, and may be said to continue till the ensuing April. It 
frequently happens, after the first rains, that weeks of weather 
similar to Indian summer occur, and it is seldom that one or 
other ofi the months of January, February or March does not 
prove continuously mild and clear. The summers of this terri¬ 
tory are unsurpassed in the world. In the winter months, six 
in number, rains prevail. No disappointment should be felt if 
falling weather occurred in some part of the twenty-four hours, 
yet many bright sunshiny days relieve the long continued rainy 
season of Washington Territory. Of the sixteen winters passed 
in this territory, the writer has known but three so severe as to 
render it essential to house and feed stock. . . . Rose 

bushes generally have proved an evergreen, and during the win¬ 
ter of 1860-61, the hermosa continued in bloom in the garden of 
the writer till the twenty-fifth of January. ... An average 
of from seven to ten days of freezing weather may be looked 
for with a moderate certainty, when ice may be formed sufficiently 
thick to bear a man’s weight. Under most favoring circum¬ 
stances a small pond, entirely protected from the wind, may be 
frozen thick enough to permit a day or two of skating to a 
limited number of persons. Parties fond of sleighing consider 
themselves especially favored if they are afforded a season of 
from three days to a week’s duration.” — Evans. 

Deeming this subject worthy of general circulation, we quote 
some items from the local press, touching the mildness of our 
climate and its effects on vegetation. The Seattle (W. T.) tri¬ 
weekly Intelligencer of Nov. 28, 1870, says: “ Thanksgiving 
passed off very quietly in this city, with the exception of the 
Methodist church, where a respectable audience assembled, and 
the services were of an interesting character. The Reverends 
J. F. Damon and S. H. Mann officiating. . . . Near the 

reverend gentlemen, and in full view of the audience, was very 
tastefully arranged upon the stand, a fine display of flowers, 
fruit and vegetable productions, gathered on that day from the 
gardens of the city, consisting of a variety of roses, violets, 
daisies, honeysuckles, chrysanthemums, bluebells, snapdragon, 
hollyhocks, marigold, princess feather, mullen-pink, new oats, 
white and red clover, ragged robins, ripe and in blossom, and 
young grapes — second crop, to which Mr. Damon alluded by 
way of supplement in his discourse, in a happy manner, referring 


as lie did to those extraordinary evidences of our genial climate 
and productive soil.” 

We also take the following from the Olympia (W. T.) Tran¬ 
script, of Jan. 15th, 1870 :—“ On Monday last Mr. H. B. Wood¬ 
ward, of West Olympia, sent into this office a bouquet of flow¬ 
ers, containing twenty-two varieties, gathered from his open 
garden on that morning, Jan. 10th, 1870. Among them we no¬ 
ticed the following summer varieties:—the myrtle, marigold, 
daisy, roses, several varieties, flowering cabbage, wallflower, 
shellflower, honeysuckle, chrysanthemums, chamomile, etc. If 
any other place on the globe in 47°, north latitude, can produce 
such a selection of flowers, twenty-two different kinds, on a 
space of less than half a town lot, in the open air, on the east 
and north side of the house, and fully exposed to the north, 
northeast and east winds, let it speak out and tell its story. 
Mr. Woodward’s is not the only garden in which flowers are 
to be found. There are many of them. In our own little gar¬ 
den we find in full bloom a number of carnation pinks. Who 
can beat Olympia ?” 

Rivers. Many streams rush down the mountains, penetra¬ 
ting the plains to the sound, several of which are deep, draining 
rich farming lands. The largest are the Nootsack, Lummi, 
Swinimish, Skagit, Stilaquamish, Skykomish, Snohomish, Ce¬ 
dar, White, Dwamish, Puqallup, Nisqually and the Des Chutes. 
The rich bottoms bordering on those rivers, the broad bench 
lands fringing the mountains, and the level prairies margining 
the head waters of the sound afford ample fields for all branches 
of husbandry. 

Hon. Wm. Pickering, late Governor of Washington Territory, 
in his official message to the territorial legislature, submitted the 
following information to the u assembled wisdom “ The large 
extent or aggregate amount of rich soil well adapted for agri¬ 
cultural purposes, located in the western half of this territory, 
is not generally known even to our own citizens, for many parts 
remain undeveloped, and are rarely visited by white men. Let 
me invite your attention to a few statistical facts regarding it, 
the most of which, from personal observation, I know to be true, 
and the remainder I have from the most reliable sources. Be¬ 
ginning at the northern boundary and coming south along the 
meandering of the coast and Puget Sound, the Nootsak river 
has rich lands on both sides for 30 miles, Luinim 0, Samish 20, 


Skagit 50, Stulaquamish 25, Snoliomisli 20, Skykomisk 40, 
Snoqualine 40, the prairie and pass 20, Cedar river 25, the rich 
lands lately discovered between the Cedar and Snoqualmie 
rivers 50, White river and branches 40, streams emptying into 
Washington and Squak lakes 20, Dwamish river 12, Puyallup 
20, Nisqually 55, Des-Ckutes 20, Chelialas 70, Wynushia, Sat- 
sop, Black rivers and lake 60, Skookumckuck and tributaries 65, 
Johnson’s river, Umtulah, Whisk-kali and other tributaries of 
Gray’s harbor 55, North river, Willapo and other tributaries of 
Shoal water bay 35, Columbia river 100, Cowlitz 65, East fork 
20, Lewis and its forks 30, Washugal 10, Salmon river 20, on 
the Pacific coast, Quenalt, Raft, Oliaklet, Quelliheutes and other 
streams 90, Okeko, Claim, Fisk, Elwa, Dungeness, Squimbay 
and Port Discovery 80, Chimicum and branches 30, tributaries 
of Hood’s canal 100; making in all 1318 miles of rich bottom 
lands, ranging from two to five miles in width, together with 
numerous small creeks with equally rich soil on their banks, 
averaging about a mile in width, making about 400 miles in 
length, altogether sufficient to furnish upwards of 20,000 farm¬ 
ing families with 160 acres each. And in addition to all this 
there arc innumerable tracts of good farming soil upon the 
table lands.” 

We endorse this estimate as reliable. Governor Pickering is 
an experienced farmer from the state of Illinois, and his opin¬ 
ions are worthy of respect. Hon. S. Garfield, the present dele¬ 
gate in Congress from Washington Territory, and former Sur¬ 
veyor-General of that domain, whose opportunities were good in 
observing the farming resources, says: The valleys of the 
mountain streams which come from the mountains and empty 
into the Columbia and Puget Sound, or discharge their water 
directly into the ocean through Skoalwater bay and Gray’s har¬ 
bor, are very rich, and sufficiently numerous and extensive to 
furnish homes and farms for a large population : the uplands arc 
either composed of clay or gravel. . . . There are also in 

this region extensive tide-flats easily reducible to a state of 
cultivation and inexkaustable fertility.” 

The extent and capacity of our farming lands is ample; 
farmers from the north and eastern states are pleased with our 
soil, and are gathering profitable returns. With the means em¬ 
ployed for tillage and raising fruit, the products of our lands are 
gratifying. 


•• The mildness and humidity of the climate produces some 
very singular results upon vegetation ; often potatoes, cabbages 
and other vegetables are harvested only as fast as they are re¬ 
quired for family use. The cabbage stalks from whieh the 
heads have been cut remain standing in the garden, and often 
produce during the following season from three to seven heads 
of cabbage to each stalk, hard, sound, excellent, but not as 
large as the first head produced. Where the soil is good the 
production is abundant, and that too with moderate tillage. I 
have seen potatoes dropped upon the unplowed ground, covered 
with a shovel-plough, and left until digging time without fur¬ 
ther cultivation. They were then harvested by ploughing them 
up and thus bringing them to the surface, and the yield with 
this primitive culture ranged from 500 to 700 bushels to the 
acre. . . . There are portions of the United States pos¬ 

sessed of soil more uniformly good than that of Washington 
Territory. But for variety and extent of resources, perhaps no 
part of the Union equals it. Agriculture and stock-raising are 
but two and perhaps not the most important of its elements of 
wealth and prosperity. The agricultural and grassing capabil¬ 
ities of the country can yet scarcely be estimated. The popu¬ 
lation is so sparse, the process of culture so simple, and the 
necessity for husbanding and applying fertilizers so light, that 
but little can 3 r et be determined in regard to the cultivable or 
grassing area of the country, or the possible capacity of giving 
areas for production. That fruits, flour, beef, mutton, oats, 
wool, barley, potatoes and other inferior products may be pro¬ 
duced for exportation in immense quantities, no one residing in 
the country seems to doubt. The winters are much milder and 
shorter than upon the Atlantic seaboard, so that comparatively 
little of the products of the summer are consumed during that 
continuance, leaving a much larger portion for sale and exporta¬ 
tion. In many sections of the country no provision is made for 
sheltering or feeding stock during the inclement weather ; still, 
however, the more prudent of our people generally provide for a 
short period of frost and snow, which is likely to occur in two 
or three years.” — Garfield. 

In an earnest desire to give every information relative to our 
mild, genial temperature, and its effect on vegetation and human 
health, we append the following exhibit from the United States 
Coast Survey for the winter of 1866-67 : 


51) 


Nov. i860. 

Clear days, 


fiainy days, 25. 

tfoggy days, 3. 

kainfaii, 9.892 inches 

Dec. “ 

“ 

o 

i>. 

ii 

25. 

“ 3. 

u 

8.260 “ 

Jan. 1867. 

U 

*7. 

a 

18. 

“ 2. 

a 

7.506 “ 

Feb. « 

ii 

2. 

a 

24. 

“ 2. 

a 

5.197 “ 

Mar. “ 

ii 

22. 


8. 

S l. 


0.880 “ 

Ap’l “ 


22. 

ff 

8. 

0. 

U 

2.271 “ 

Total rainfall, 


• 

- 



34.106 inches 


This demonstrates a genial climate ; we have a large average 
of clear days, sufficient rains and little or no fogs. 

Geology. No thorough geological survey has taken place, 
consequently little reliable information can be given touching 
the mineral resources of Washington Territory. The existence 
of valuable metals are manifest, and copper, silver and gold have 
been found in various places ; coal croppings are visible all over 
our valley, which fortifies the belief that the whole plateau of 
Puget Sound is an inexhaustible bed of coal; several leads are 
being developed in localities convenient to navigation. A rich 
mine in the vicinity of Elliot bay, on the eastern shore, is now 
in process of development. This article burns clear, leaving no 
clinkers, and is well adapted to steaming purposes ; it has been 
chemically analyzed as follows : 


Carbon,. 57.24. 

Hydrogen, - - - 2.00. 

Nitrogen,.7.50. 

Oxygen,.16.00. 

Sulphur,.2.00. 

Ashes, ----- 8.00. 

Water,.9.00. 


Specific gravity, - 1.300. 

Practical engineers, who have used this coal on steamers, 
say that “ it kindles quick, burns clear, leaving no clinkers and 
emitting a powerful heat.” Near the northern boundary in 
Bellingham bay, a mine has been worked for several years with 
apparent success. This lead has been traced back for several 
miles with indications of indefinite limits ; it has been delved for 
nearly 1000 feet. This coal is bituminous, bums freely, and is 
largely consumed in domestic purposes. Chemically, it yields 


the following results: 

Specific gravity, * 1.309. 

Water, (Hygroscopic), - - 5.60. 

Dry Coal, ^ - - - - - 94.40. 

Carbon, * 74.41. 

Hydrogen, - 4.63. 

Oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur, - . 17.61. 

Ashes — red, - 3.35. 




CO 


This mine is extensively worked, about fifteen tons being 
hourly delivered on shipboard. 

“ The mineral resources of Washington Territory are already 
known to be considerable; coal, iron, copper, lead, gold and 
silver are known to exist. Puget Sound valley is the great coal 
basin of the Pacific, coal having already been discovered in large 
quantities in divers localities, and of better quality*tlian else¬ 
where upon that coast. The value of these coal deposits, and 
their influence upon the future manufactures and the internal 
and external commerce of the Pacific slope, cannot yet be fully 
appreciated. All will concede that they are powerful elements 
of ultimate wealth and prosperity.” Garfield . 

The u forests primeval ” fringing Puget Sound have obtained 
celebrity. The cedars and fir trees nurtured in those regions 
are “ tall and majestic.” The most powerful nations of the 
earth obtain spars for their war vessels on our shores. Much of 
this timber is manufactured and exported; vast quantities are 
used in San Francisco in constructing buildings, wharves and 
other structures ; it is generally used in repairing and building 
water craft, for which it is well adapted. u The timber which 
covers a large proportion of the surface of western Washington, 
constitutes a present and increasing element of wealth and pros¬ 
perity. The most valuable kinds are fir, cedar, pine and maple. 
No one, whose experience and observation has been confined to 
the Atlantic slope of the continent, can form any conception of 
the magnificence of our forests, remarkable alike for their ex* 
tent, size of the trees, and the number standing within a given 
area. The fir predominates over all others in size, number and 
usefulness. Fir trees, six, seven and eight feet in diameter, and 
more than 800 feet high are not uncommon. These, however, 
are too large to be cut into lumber profitably. The size preferred 
by mill-men is from thirty to forty inches in diameter; trees 
of this size usually afford from 70 to 200 feet in length of trunk, 
free from limbs or damaged parts. The cedar attains a diame¬ 
ter equal to the fir, but is not usually so tall; pines and oaks 
are much smaller. Land affording 30,000 feet, of lumber to the 
acre is considered hardly worth cutting over; forests yielding 
100,000 feet and upwards to the acre are common.” — Garfield. 

Water-power. The mountain ranges on both sides of the 
sound usher forth several torrents, which, in rushing through 
rocky gulches, afford plenty water-power. The Des-Chutes 


river, at the head of the sound, falls over a level ridge, afford¬ 
ing sufficient power to move all the mills in Lowell; other 
falls are latent along our shores convenient to navigation; 

“ other men in other times ” will harness these mighty agencies, 
and make them subservient to the wants of man. 

Indians. The ramifications of waters penetrating this valley, 
the arms and peninsulas dividing this sea, the dense forests 
fringing the secluded havens quickened with elk, deer and bear, 
the trees alive with pheasants, grouse and pigeons; the broad, 
level prairies, dotted with mirror lakes-—genial resorts for 
geese, ducks and swans ; the water courses teeming with trout, 
perch and smelt, while the silvery arms of the sound afford 
cod, halibut and salmon, and even the mud-flats fairly boil over 
with oysters, clams and other shell-fish. A country thus teem¬ 
ing with spontaneous luxuries afforded an earthly paradise to 
the red man, who, for centuries held sway, “ monarch of all he 
surveyed ” in this romantic domain, faring sumptuously on oil 
and blubber. In this thermal land, rich in roots, and covered 
with berries, “the poor Indian” idled away his time; “he 
toiled not, neither did he spin,” yet, Solomon in his temple was 
not greater than the “ Duke of York ”— the Chief of the Claims, 
on Puget Sound. From the early traders and missionaries 
we learn that the Indians have dwelt in great numbers around 
this calm sea, but their numbers are “ growing small by degrees 
and beautifully less.” The extinction of the Indian in our ter¬ 
ritory is simply a question of time. Our government has treated 
them with commendable kindness; large, fertile tracts of land 
have been specifically reserved to them; churches and schools 
have been reared for their benefit, and healthy progress is mani¬ 
fest among the remnant surviving. Our Indians display some 
mechanical talent; they dig out beautiful canoes, which in lines, 
symmetry and shear cannot be excelled. They are expert “ by 
flood and field,” either in trapping the coarser ftir animals on 
the land, or the fine otter on the sea. The rich furs, so abun¬ 
dant, enticed the early traders to this coast; the Spanish were 
the first in the field. In 1792 they built a trading fort at Neeha 
bay, (the bricks of which are still visible), in the midst of the 
most energetic and desperate savages on that coast. The Hud¬ 
son’s Bay Company from London, established a trading depot 
at Nisqually in 1833 ; clergymen representing different denomi¬ 
nations of Christians soon followed. Tn 1841 the United States 


(12 

exploring expedition, under command of Lieut. Wilkes, visited 
Puget Sound and remained there several months, during which 
time the principal channels and harbors were surveyed. 

“ After the commencement of the present century there is no 
record of further operations within those waters until the es¬ 
tablishment, in 1833, of fort Nisqualty, near the head of Puget 
Sound, by the Hudson’s Bay Company. In 1839, Father De¬ 
mers, one of the two pioneer Catholic missionaries to Oregon, 
visited and labored among the native Indian tribes of Puget 
Sound. In succeeding years he and others of the same faith 
continued those visitations ; no permanent establishments were 
attempted, but here they planted the sign of the cross at various 
points, and sought to mollify the asperities of heathen barbarity, 
paving the way for the white race peacefully to occupy those 
regions. At an early day the fruits of those zealous mission¬ 
aries can find its illustration on Whitby island, by the Indians 
erecting a large house, dedicated and devoted to the worship of 
the living God. In 1840, Rev. J. P. Richmond, of the Oregon 
Methodist Mission, located at Nisqually. During 1841, the 
United States exploring expedition, Capt. Charles Wilkes com¬ 
manding, spent the summer in exploring and surveying these 
waters. . . . But hitherto no attempt had been made to 

establish American settlements in the Puget Sound country.” 
— Evans. 

The vast country on the Pacific slope between 42° and 54° 40 
north, was, by the terms of the treaty of 1827, held in joint 
occupancy by the subjects of Great Britain and the citizens of 
the United States. Several bodies of emigrants, principally 
Americans from the western States, had previously “ crossed the 
plains” and settled in the valley of the Wallamet. This 
humble germ, “ sown in weakness,” has been “ raised inpow T er.” 
The Hudson’s Bay Company held possession of the country 
north of the lower Columbia river, with their chief entrepot at 
the romantic town of Vancouver; they had also a chain of 
trading forts across the Puget Sound valley, even far into 
British Columbia. The diplomatic struggle was then raging for 
this “vale of paradise.” The British government made an 
earnest effort to secure the free navigation of the Columbia 
river, ostensibly in the behest of the Hudson’s Bay Company* 
but really for the absorption of Washington Territory. Mr. 
Webster, Secretary of State, conducted the negotiations, favor- 


ing tlie proposition in consideration of larger privileges being 
extended to the New England fishermen in the waters bordering 
the maritime provinces in British America, Whilst the diplomats 
feasted and regaled their boon companions over “ the good time 
coming,” a few hardy pioneers from the Wallamct “ crossed the 
Rubicon,” and entered the promised land on Puget Sound, 
“They came, they saw, they conquered,” and laid deep the 
foundations of the future State of Washington. 

“ Those pioneers, God bless their memories, were living wit¬ 
nesses to the integrity of American claim to this territory. . . 

Each in proper person bore testimony that the voyage of De 
Fuca, the labors and discoveries of Gray and Kendricks in the 
‘ Columbia ’ and ‘Washington/ should not pass for nought. 
After they had threaded their wearisome way to the Columbia, 
occupying the whole season, yet the pioneers to Puget Sound 
were ready, at the opening of the next season, to renew their 
journey and carry northward to these shores their families and 
their household gods.” — Evans. 

After toils and privations, the early pioneers founded an im¬ 
perishable civilization in the sunset land, in accomplishing 
which many of them “ fell by the wayside,” some, through 
savage perfidy, suffered “many deaths,” some perished by flood 
in the frail canims, while seeking the needs of life, and others 
died in humble cabins. “Heaven’s register alone contains the 
record; humble was their lot, unheralded and modest as was 
their labors, unmissed though they departed from this scene, 
yet the world received benefit by their having lived in it. Here 
and there deserted cabins silently attest what these heroic, self- 
sacrificing men undertook. What risks the pioneers incur; 
these lost of earth are entitled to gratitude; their labors and 
their loss hallow the past of Puget Sound, teach us more 
thoroughly to appreciate the Present, and remind us of our duty 
to those who in time succeed us.” Such is the pen-picture of our 
early settlers, drawn by Hon. Elwood Evans, himself an early 
pioneer to our territory, and a prominent “ hero in the strife.” 

From humble beginnings small colonies became stronger, an¬ 
nually replenished by streams of determined emigrants seeking 
homes and a country in the region of the setting sun. Those 
heroic patriots, reared under the drippings of Freedom’s sanctu¬ 
ary, immediately implored Congress to extend self-government 
to them, which was organized in 1853, with the classic name of 


04 


4 Washington/ which we still enjoy. 44 Our people wanted to 
call it Columbia. No other designation was suggested, and it is 
a singular coincidence that the names of the two American ves¬ 
sels which first plowed those waters should have been the only 
names deemed as appropriate for the new territory.” — Evans. 

President Pierce entrusted the execution of the organization 
to Major 1.1. Stevens, our first governor. This officer gradu¬ 
ated at West Point with high prestige ; in the Mexican war he 
won and received commendable appreciation from the command¬ 
ing general; he devoted his active energies to our young terri¬ 
tory and set the paraphernalia of government in successful ope¬ 
ration ; he afterwards represented our territory for two sessions 
in Congress. In the war of the rebellion he commanded a 
brigade in the Union army, and on the deadly field of Chantilly, 
Virginia, in August, 1862, he fell, much to the regret of our 
early pioneers, among whom his memory is held in pleasant re¬ 
membrance. The legislature has organized our territory, and 
divided it into counties and judicial districts ; life and property 
are protected and the laws are humanely executed and generally 
obeyed. 

Towns and Cities. Our hardy pioneers, having reclaimed 
this domain from the savages, and having great faith in its fu¬ 
ture destiny as the prospective gate to the Indies, have laid out 
and are building up towns and cities on the margin of the Sound, 
which bask in the sunshine of steady, healthy progress. We 
present the claims of several to the favorable attention of our 
readers, in the earnest hope that many will be induced to locate 
in our embryo cities. 

Port Townsend is situated at the junction of the Strait De 
Fuca and Admiralty Inlet. The present business part of the 
town is built on a low beach, immediately adjoining which is an 
abrupt bluff; upon this elevation is found the residences of the 
citizens, the marine hospital, churches, school-houses, etc. ^The 
custom-house for the Puget Sound district is located upon the 
beach below, hence all foreign shipping is compelled to enter 
and clear at this place. 

Seattle is located on Elliot bay, on the eastern shore of Ad¬ 
miralty Inlet, near the mouth of the Dwamish river. A fertile 
tract of farming lands is convenient to this place which is 
rapidly filling up. The coal mines in the vicinity, and the nu¬ 
merous lumbering mills and logging camps adjacent, contribute 


largely to the prosperity of this city. Many neat dwellings are 
visible, and healthy progress is manifest in every direction. 
The Seattle (W. T.) Intelligencer of July 18, 1870, says, “Last 
year there were constructed in this city one church (Catholic), 
eleven buildings for stores, and thirty-seven one and two-story 
dwelling-houses, besides some twenty smaller buildings. This 
year, up to the present time, there have been built, and in pro¬ 
cess of construction, one church (Episcopal), one public school- 
house, three warehouses, several business houses, one livery and 
sale stable, and forty-eight one and two-story dwelling-houses, 
some of them quite expensive structures, besides an unusual 
number of small tenements. Two or three of our hotels have 
been greatly enlarged and improved to accommodate their in¬ 
creasing business.” 

Steilacoon is located on the eastern shore of Puget Sound, and 
has long been a depot for shipping stock ; it possesses facilities 
for commerce and shipbuilding. Good farming land and stock 
ranges border on this place. 

Olympia is situated near the head of navigation, and is equi¬ 
distant from several prominent places. The capitol of the 
territory is located at this town ; the federal and territorial offi¬ 
cers hold their offices here. The Legislature assembles and the 
Supreme Court hold annual terms at the capital. The mails are 
daily distributed at this point. All the elements contributing 
to the development of this central metropolis imparts steady, 
healthy progress ; nearly 100 buildings were constructed during 


the 3 ’ear 1870. We append the census 
follows : 

report for 1870. as 

Number of dwellings, 

- 360. 

“ Families, 

335. 

“ White males, - 

720. 

u u females, 

410. 

“ Col’d males, - 

42. 

“ u females, 

16. 

Total within the city limits, 

1194. 

We devote greater space to the development of this place, 
being the capital and one of the first settled towns in our terri- 


tory. Our fair readers will notice the great disparity existing 
between males and females; this inequality is still more appa¬ 
rent in other less favored localities. We submit these'figures to 
such ladies as arc willing to “ change their names,” and invite 

9 


them to go at once into 44 sweet captivity ” in the sunset land. 

Tumwateris two miles above Olympia, at the 44 falls. ,, Con¬ 
siderable trade centers there; several mills and a tannery are in 
active operation. This place possesses great facilities for manu¬ 
facturing purposes. 

Several towns are located along the margin of the sound, in 
which the development of coal or lumber affords employment to 
hundreds of men. The hum of machinery, the clanking of 
lumber and the songs of the seamen form constant music. 44 At 
each of the great mills and at the coal-mines, there are villages 
containing from 150 to 300 inhabitants. The improvements 
generally vests in the mill proprietors, and usually consists of 
a few handsome residences, and comfortable houses for those 
engaged in and about the mills, a hotel, store, smith-shops, etc,, 
pertaining to the business and forming each a community within , 
itself. ... At all these points the hum of machinery is 
constant, the rattle of lumber continuous throughout the day as 
it is taken from the mill directly into the vessel, presenting a 
busy scene in contrast to the deep solitude reigning in the great 
forests before the advent of civilization here.” — Meeker. 

Vast resources are now latent in this fine valley ; coal, iron, 
copper, silver and gold slumber in our hills. The mighty tor¬ 
rent gushing in mad career to the sound, the tall cedar so 
abundant in our lowlands, the numerous hard woods — maple, 
ash, beech and other furnishing material rotting in the swamps, 
the vast wealth annually wasting in those regions silently invites 
development. 44 The cedars, maples and other woods of the 
territory afford excellent material for the manufacture of furni¬ 
ture, ornamental house finishing, sashes, doors, blinds, churns,, 
tubs and pails, beside the endless variety of other articles of 
wood consumed by modern society.” — Garfield. 

The huge fir trees so abundant in our valley and so accessible 
to navigation, have been made to some extent subservient to the 
wants of commerce ; this wood is manufactured extensively and 
exported in vast quantities to the uttermost ends of the earth ; 
it has been tested by naval constructors at home and abroad, and 
commended for shipbuilding. 44 Our fir timber is not only du¬ 
rable but very strong, possessing the quality of stiffness in 
a very high degree. I have not at hand the statement showing 
the strength of this timber, but must refer you to the reports of 
tests made at the United States navy-yard at Marc Island in 


California; Those tests proved it to be stronger than white 
oak.” — Garfield. 

Spars of stately proportions are abundant and are exported in 
cargoes; the governments of the leading maritime countries 
have, for years, obtained spars here for their navies. The fleets 
of the world may enter our waters, ride in perfect security, and 
procure repairs in hull or spars at short notice at low figures. 

44 The lumber of Puget Sound, in proportion to its population, 
is already enormous. There is not more 12,000 to 15,000 in¬ 
habitants resident upon the Sound and its tributaries. This 
population exports more than 155,000,000 feet of lumber annu¬ 
ally, besides 20,000,000 laths and shingles, and a large amount 
of piles and spars. These products of the forest are sent to 
California^ South America, the Sandwich Islands, Australia, 
China and Europe. Large quantities of spars have been shipped 
to Europe, many of which were furnished by contract for the 
French navy ; those designed for lower masts were required to 
be, when hewn into octagonal shape, 120 feet long and 42 inches 
diameter at a point forty feet from the low r er end. Perhaps no 
other existing forests could furnish spars of such gigantic size, 
and certainly not at the prices for which they can be afforded 
upon Puget Sound.” — Garfield. 

This branch of industry operates twenty saw-mills of different 
capacities, and 150 logging camps and other establishments, 
which, combined, creates remunerative demand for farming pro¬ 
duce, oxen, beef, pork, lard, butter and fish, while skilled labor 
is better rewarded than in any other country. Annexed are the 
statistics of Puget Sound collection district for the year ending 
June 30, 1879 : 

Imports. — Value of goods imported from foreign countries, $83,105; 
amount of duties collected, $14,826. 

Exports of Domestic Produce. — Value exported in American ves¬ 
sels, $291,000} in foreign vessels, $149,905; total export to foreign 
ports, $440,915, viz.: live animals of all kinds, $43,713; lumber of all 
kinds, $266,288} all other articles, $130,914. 

tonnage Belonging to the district. 

62 sailing vessels, - - tons 13,711.09, 

19 steamers,.“ 2,015.87. 

8 scows and barges, - “ 140.77. 


89 Total tonnage, - - 16,867.73. 

Vessels Cleared During the Year.— American vessels for foreign 
countries: 115 steamers, 4 ships, 13 barks, 2 brigs, 13 schooners and 2 



sloops. ^Total: vessels, 149; tons, 55,606.25; crew, 2,105. Foreign 
vessels for foreign countries: 6 steamers, 16 ships, 6 barks, 3 sloops. 
Total: vessels, 31; tons, 19,227.42; crew, 456. American vessels coast¬ 
wise : 29 steamers, 11 ships, 18 barks, lbrig, 9 schooners. Total: ves¬ 
sels, 68; tons, 31,779.74; crew, 1,092. Total number of vessels cleared, 
248; tons, 106,613.41; crew, 3,653. 

Vessels Entered During the Year. —American vessels from foreign 
countries: 95 steamers, 1 ship, 10 barks, 1 brig, 18 schooners, 22 sloops. 
Total: vessels, 147; tons, 39,840.06; crew, 1,852. Foreign vessels from 
foreign countries: 6 steamers, 7 ships, 3 sloops. Total: vessels, 16; 
tons, 5,366.57; crew, 62. Americans vessels coastwise: 39 steamers, 
18 ships, 43 barks, 3 brigs, 6 schooners. Total: vessels, 109; tons, 55,- 
561.18; crew, 1,853. Total number of vessels entered, 272; tons, 100,- 
767.81; crews, 8,502. 

In the coasting trade belonging to other ports there are 1 ship, 12 
barks, 1 brig, 4 schooners. Total: vessels, 18; tons, 7,761.25. 

The value of shipments coastwise cannot be obtained from any other 
source than the mills from which the lumber is shipped, as the vessels 
do not clear from this port unless sailing under a register. The year’s 
shipments coastwise is estimated at three millions of dollars; being an 
increase over the preceding year of nearly three hundred thousand dol¬ 
lars. Imports coastwise cannot be ascertained, as the vessels are not 
obliged to report at the Custom House, except in certain cases. 

Shipbuilding has been inaugurated on Puget Sound. The 
dense forests of firs fringing our waters, the tall trees, the close 
grain, the bending elasticity, and the cheapness of the material, 
renders this valley the shipyard of the north Pacific coast. In 
1867, the board of marine underwriters of San Francisco insti¬ 
tuted an inquiry into the facilities for,* and the cost of shipbuild¬ 
ing on the northwest coast, as compared with eastern shipyards. 
The facts developed by these enquiries were, that vessels could 
be built of the timber found on that coast, all other finish being 
the same, at a less price than on the Atlantic seaboard or the 
British islands. The committee appointed reported that “ The 
growth of the business has also been hindered by grave doubts 
as to the strength and durability of our firs when used as ship 
timber. The predilections of all American and English ship¬ 
wrights are naturally for oak; but oak has been scarce, or rather 
the oak of this coast has generally been found worthless for 
these purposes, while only the laurel lias been found suitable as 
a substitute for it. Sufficient time has, however, elapsed to 
prove to us that we have several kinds of ship timber in the 
greatest abundance, and of a size and quality in every way 
better adapted for ship building than the timber used for many 
years back on the coast of Maine or the British Provinces. 


' m 

“^ he re( * an <* yellow fir trees, which constitute about one-half 
of the dense growth of timber of Oregon and Washington Ter¬ 
ritory, have become celebrated throughout the world for their 
magnificent proportions and the serviceable quality of the spars 
and lumber supplied from them. They frequently furnish sticks 
150 feet long, 10x18, and even 24x24 inches square, without a 
particle of sap, without a rent or check, perfectly sound and 
straight. Planks of this timber, 60 and 90 feet long, are readily 
obtainable, thus avoiding the necessity for more than one-third 
to one-half as many butts or scarfs in a ship’s sides, decks, or 
fore-and-aft timbers as are required in Eastern or European 
vessels. As to the strength of these woods many mechanics 
think it fully 7 ' equal to that of the Eastern white oak, and they 
all agree that if oak be stronger, nothing is easier than to us,e 
enough more of our fir to make up the difference in strength. 
In some other respects the fir has the advantage over oak. It 
contains just enough pitch to enable it to hold iron fastenings 
with a tenacity so great that bolts and spikes generally break 
before they will draw out of it. Iron never becomes * sick ’ 
when embedded in it, as it does when corroded by the acid 
which saturates all kinds of oak. As to its durability, we know 
that although it has not yet been tested as the sole material of 
a guano or pepper ship, yet it has been extensively used for new 
timbers, planking, ceiling, decks, keelsons and stancheons, in 
large vessels repaired on the coast; it has been the sole material 
used in building our coasting and river schooners ; it has built 
the Chrysopolis, YoSemite, Capital, Geo. S. Wright, John T. 
Wright , and many other river steamers. It has been used in 
doubling and rebuilding all the old steamers on this coast, and 
we have never yet met a ship-master who, during our fifteen years 
of this experience, has complained of its want of durability 
The gravelly prairies adjacent to the sound are thinly tim¬ 
bered with pasture oak ; this timber is close grained and elastic ; 
the trunks of those trees are generally too short for keel pieces, 
keelsons, beams or planks, but are long enough and well adapt¬ 
ed for stem, stern and rudder posts, windlass barrels arid pall- 
bitts, catheads, davits, chocks, jaws and cleats; the limbs and 
branches afford good materials for boatbuilding. Ash abounds 
on our river bottoms convenient to the shores; this wood is 
suitable for staves, hoops, hanks, oars and paddles. Elm in 
moderate quantities is also convenient, from which blocks and 


dead-eyes may be manufactured; thus the most desirable ma¬ 
terials for shipbuilding are latent on our borders. The smaller 
saw-mills, propelled by water-power and economically managed, 
manufacture short lumber of different dimensions at low figures ; 
rough fir lumber under fifty feet in length, suitable for beams, 
timbers, rails, stem, stern and rudder posts, may be obtained at 
those establishments at six dollars ; keel-pieces, keelsons, bends, 
plank, clamps and ceilings of fir, neatly dressed, may be had 
at ten dollars in coin per thousand feet. At the large steam- 
mills several large vessels have been built; in such cases long 
lumber is required, for which higher figures than those quoted 
are collected, twelve dollars (coin) for rough, and twenty for 
planed fir lumber per thousand feet, are the prices usually 
charged for ship timber; spars come higher according to length, 
texture and other circumstances. From personal observation 
and experience on the northeast and northwest coasts, we con¬ 
clude that the materials—keels, keelsons, stem, stern and rudder 
posts, floor and top timbers, plank-shears, bends, plank-clamps, 
ceiling, rails, bulwarks, deck plank, bulk-heads and the ordinary 
finishing needed in the construction of a 1000-ton vessel, may 
be had with the same convenience, of as good quality, and 
cheaper than the needed materials for a vessel of 100 tons could 
be procured in Boston, Mass. 

“ A portion of the timber grown and lumber manufactured in 
the vicinity of Puget Sound, is being worked up in the region 
of its production with profit, and the amount is steadily on 
the increase. Shipbuilding is rapidly on the increase and des¬ 
tined to become one of the important industries of the country. 
The Very favorable report of the San Francisco Board of under¬ 
waters recently made, covering both the quality and durability 
of materials and the cost of construction, has very materially' 
stimulated this branch of industry. It is now conceded that fir 
timber for all the purposes of naval construction, possesses the 
strength and durability of white oak, and holds fastening bet¬ 
ter.” — Garfield . 

During our sojourn on Puget Sound, some fifty vessels were 
built, some registering 600 tons ; a ship approaching 1000 tons 
has been built recently at Port Madison, and has arrived at San 
Francisco. The San Francisco Bulletin of Sept. 27th, says : 

“ The signs of the times tend towards a compulsory appreciation df 
our Pacific coast woodlands; Constant reminders* in the shape of sug- 


71 


gestive newspapers paragraphs and magazine articles have had salutary 
effects; giving encouragement and wholesome advice to lumbermen and 
landowners, which have not been unheeded. The immediate or pros¬ 
pective value of any class of timber once demonstrated beyond reason¬ 
able doubt, that timber commands respectful attention from all parties 
interested in the lumber business. The many are naturally eager to 
avail themselves of the discoveries of the few. Attention is concen¬ 
trated upon the timber, and experience constantly brings to light some 
new quality or chance for utilization. It is unpleasant to constantly 
lecture the people upon their general neglect and inertness in regard to 
Pacific slope resources; but a good excuse is found in the practical de¬ 
velopment it is calculated to accelerate. As a dernier resort, then, 
there is justification in forcing local recognition of comparatively local 
resources. In this connection none can begrudge Messrs. Meiggs & 
Gawley, San Francisco lumber merchants, the meed of praise to which 
they are justly entitled. They have not only, in common with other 
lumber firms, erected saw-mills on the Puget Sound coast, but have 
taken a notable new departure by constructing, at Port Madison, (W.T.) 
the largest and handsomest specimen of marine architecture ever pro¬ 
duced from the resources of this coast. The vessel is alike a remark¬ 
able demonstration of the shipbuilding resources of Puget Sound, and 
a credit to the gentlemen whose energy and enterprise have carried this 
undertaking to completion during the unusual depression to which 
business has been subjected for the past two years. 

The material of which this ship (appropriately named Wildwood ) is 
built, merits special attention. No better material, either for strength 
or beauty, can be found in this or any other country. The timber — 
yellow fir—is all of native growth, taken from contiguous forests, and 
prepared at the Port Madison mills. For the purposes of marine con¬ 
struction, ample experiments have been made to test the relative 
strength of oak and yellow fir; and the decision accords to the latter 
superiority in all respects where weight or strain occurs to the hull of 
a vessel. According to trials made at the Mare Island navy-yard, the 
relative tenacity of the fir to oak is 27 to 22. When, therefore, we find 
a careful selection of the various pieces made from this prime lumber 
— larger by almost one-third than are usually found in vessels of cor¬ 
responding tonnage — with every joint closely fitted, and the multi¬ 
farious parts bolted and riveted in the securest manner, as is the case 
with this ship, we feel warranted in pronouncing her second to none 
ever built in any country. This is a bold statement, but the doubting 
reader can obtain satisfaction by personally inspecting the vessel. 

The model of the Wildwood is that of a full clipper, having 27/2 in¬ 
ches dead rise, with sharp ends, and calculated to rank among the fast 
sailers. Obtain a fair view and she is a paragon of beauty, her longi- 
tudinal curve of five feet lending grace to every line. Without any 
hesitancy, both landsmen and mariners pronounce her an elegant craft 
at sight. Her carrying capacity for general merchandise is about 1700 
tons; and for lumber 1,000,000 feet. Her dimensions are as follows! 


Length of keel, 187^ feet; over all, 200 feet; breadth of beam, 41 feet 
10 inches; depth of hold, 22 feet 1 inch. And right here we may as 
well state that the Wildwood is not only the finest, but is also the 
largest vessel ever built on this coast. 

The keel consists of two pieces of timber, each 10 inches square, bolt¬ 
ed one above the other, and resting on a shoe 3x18 inches. Upon these 
rest the floor or frame timbers, 14 inches thick and 16 inches deep, bolt¬ 
ed together in pairs, forming one frame, with but two inches space be¬ 
tween frames. Without giving figures, it is only necessary to say that 
the keelson, riders, stanchions, sister keelsons and floor are all substan¬ 
tial and well proportioned. At either end of the ship, in the lower 
hold, are three pairs of pointers, secured by immense knees, in pair of 
which one may count 53 bolts of 1 1-4 inch iron, exclusive of those cov¬ 
ered by the knees. All through the lower hold the bolt-heads are so 
plentiful as to remind one of a vast mosaic pavement, of which they de¬ 
scribe the corners. The depth of the lower hold is 14 feet 1 1-2 inches. 
Between decks the height is 7 feet 8 inches, unobstructed from stem to 
stern. The thinest part of the hull is between decks, and there it is 21 
inches, solid wood. The thickest part, at the bilge, is 32 inches, full. 
All the decks are best quality 3 1-2 inch square timber, laid with great 
care—the grain of the wood being all edge up. The outer covering of 
the vessel is worked on with composition spikes below the water line, 
and with iron above, securely fastened with 11-4 inch seasoned treenails 
and copper butt and bilge bolts. There were used in her construction 
over three tons of composition bolts, and a quarter of a mile of 1 1-4 
inch iron bolts in the dead wood, forward and aft. 

Commencing forward is the top-gallant forecastle, extending 28 feet 
aft, and occupied by cat-heads, 15x17 inches; a pawl-bit, 18x30 inches; 
a patent windlass gear, capstan and windlass-bitts, 8x24 inches. The 
bow-chocks are 15 inches high forward, and terminate in taper near 
fore swifter. A round the foremast are main and main topmast stay-bitts, 
arranged in neat and substantial manner. The ship’s pumps, two in 
number, with brass chambers and iron pipes, are about the mainmast. 

The accommodations for officers and crew are all on the upper deck. 
The cabin is 38 feet long, 25 feet wide at the forward, and 19 feet wide 
at the after end, with three entrances. Aft, on the starboard^side, is 
the captain’s state-room, 8x9 feet, well furnished, and opening forward 
into a saloon, with a state-room on either side. Abaft this saloon are 
store room, wash room, water closet, etc., and a gangway to the poop- 
deck. The main saloon, in the middle of the house is 12x18 feet. It 
has three state-rooms, six feet square on the port side, and two state, 
rooms and pantry on the starboard. Forward of the saloon, and be¬ 
tween the passage leading from the waist, is a state-room around the 
mizzen mast, which passes up through the house. On the starboard and 
port of the entrances are the two state-rooms for the mates. The 
cabin, as will be seen, is convenient and comfortable. The forward 
house is 12x44 feet, containing a forecastle of 18 feet for the men; the 
remainder is divided up into galley, petty officers’ quarters, carpenter’s 


shop and sail-room. Almost everything involving the labor of the arti¬ 
san was prepared on the ground, and all the iron and brass works, to¬ 
gether with the composition bolts, were gotten up at the foundry con¬ 
nected with the firm’s Port Madison mill.” 

Harbors. The northwest coast is very destitute of safe 
harbors ; we know of no coast so barren of secure anchorages. 
The bay of Monterey is a broad sheet of water and acceptable in 
all winds; this roadstead was the rendezvous of the Spanish 
and Mexican fleets; considerable commerce congregates there 
since the transfer of the territory and the advent of live people ; 
little trade or exchange takes place. This broad, expansive 
bay opens to the northwest and north winds, and the swells of 
the Pacific ocean come in with such force as to prevent the 
building of wharves or docks on the margin of the bay. The 
bay of San Francisco is a large sheet of water running about 
sixty miles S.E. and N.W., and from ten to twenty miles in 
width. The fierce gales from the southeast prevailing in those 
regions in the winter months, have a clear sweep of sixty miles, 
create a cross sea, and make much havoc among the shipping. 
The north winds have a range of over twenty miles ; the westerly 
gales rushing “ through the gate of tears ” from the Indies, stirs 
up the waters into fury and renders the anchorage unsafe. Any 
part of Barnstaple bay affords as safe protection to vessels as 
the bay of San Francisco. In 1841, Lieut. Wilkes, command¬ 
ing the United States exploring expedition, visited the north¬ 
west coast, and has recorded his experience in the principal 
harbors, from which we quote extensively. Of San Francisco 
he remarks: 44 On the first of November we had a wind that 
enabled us to make sail, although it was late in the day before 
it was sufficiently strong, and by that time the ebb-tide was 
spent. To avoid any further delay I determined to make the 
attempt; signal was accordingly made, and the vessels were in 
a few minutes underweigh, standing out of the harbor. It may 
indeed be said that it is practicable to enter and depart from 
this port whenever the tide is favorable. We continued beating 
out to gain an offing until toward sunset, when it fell calm and 
the tide failed us. The 4 Vincennes ’ was, therefore, compelled 
to anchor in six and three-quarters fathoms of water, three miles 
from the land, and signal was made to the two brigs, which 
were about three miles outside of our position, to do the same. 
On coming to anchor there was scarcely any swell, and the ship 
lay almost as still as if she had been within tho harbor; the sun* 


71 


set was clear ancl everything betokened a calm and quiet night. 
At about 10, p.m., the swell began to increase without any ap¬ 
parent cause, and so rapidly as to awaken my anxiety, but being- 
in such deep water I thought the vessel was sufficiently distant 
from the bar not to be exposed to any breakers. As the flood 
continued to make the swell increased, and by midnight we were 
enveloped in fog, without a breath of air, and the ship rode over 
the rollers that were now becoming very heavy, causing her to 
pitch violently. There was, however, no break to them, but as 
ample scope of cable had been given, the ship occasionally 
swung broadside too, when the heavy pitching was exchanged to 
rolling, so deep as to endanger our masts. At 2, a.m., a breaker 
was heard outside of us passing in with the roar of a surf, after 
which they became constant and really awful. The ship might 
now be said to be riding among breakers of gigantic size; they 
rushed onward with such tremenduous roar and violence that 
as each wave -was heard approaching, it became a source of ap¬ 
prehension until it had safely passed; such was its force that 
when it struck the ship the chain cable would surge, the ring- 
stoppers parted, and some few fathoms of the cable escaped. 
As the time of high water approached, the roar of these im¬ 
mense breakers was constant. The ship was as if tempest-tossed, 
and our situation became at each moment one of great solici¬ 
tude. The actual danger of wreck was not indeed great, for, 
in the event of parting our cable, the tide would have carried us 
toward the harbor and in deep water, where the rollers would 
have ceased to break; there was no great danger of our drifting 
on the bar, which was a mile or two to. the northward of our 
position. I looked forward with anxiety for the time of high 
water as the period when we should be released from our un¬ 
pleasant situation, not only the change in the course of the tide, 
but also by the cessation of the breakers. Our situation af¬ 
forded me an opportunity of measuring the velocity of the 
waves as they passed the ship, and though the distance was 
short, yet the observations were numerous and gave the velocity 
at from 15 to 18 miles an hour, their height was over 30 feet, 
width from 800 to 1000 feet. At 3.30, A.m., one of these im¬ 
mense breakers struck the ship broad on the bow and broke with 
its full force on board; the cable surged, the stoppers were car¬ 
ried away, and the spar deck swept fore and aft; the boats and 
booms broke adrift, the former being stove and the latter thrown 


with violence to one side. Unfortunately, Joseph Allshouse, a 
marine, who was in the act of ascending the ladder at the time, 
was struck by one of the spars and so much injured that he died 
a few hours afterwards. It was not until between seven and 
eight o’clock that the ship could be relieved from this situation; 
at that time a light, air from the land sprung up, of which ad¬ 
vantage was at once taken to weigh our anchor; the rollers, 
however, had by this time ceased to break, the sea began to fall, 
and in a few hours afterwards, regained its former placid and 
quiet state.” — Wilkes. 

“ I too have loved thee, ocean we have passed over the bar of 
San Francisco several times in vessels much smaller than the 
u Vincennes,” and on one occasion we caught the duplicate of 
what Wilkes describes; the wind left us, a heavy swell rolling 
in. For six mortal hours of agony we suffered pangs of torture— 

Down dropped the sails against the masts, 

’Twas sad as sad can be; 

We did move only to dodge 
The breaking of the seas.” 

We have a wholesome terror of the bar of San Francisco, 
“ A vessel should not anchor upon the bar if she can possibly 
avoid it; frequently a heavy swell sets in without wind, and if 
the current is running strong ebb, it allows little chance of 
escaping from an uncomfortable berth. . . . During heavy 

southeaster the sea breaks upon the San Francisco bar clear 
across the entrance, presenting a fearful sight. The sound can 
be heard at the anchorage in front of the city.” — Davidson. 

Seamen on the coast of California observe great caution in 
passing the bar; the great ocean steamers get periodical rubs, 
and some have been crippled; the huge ships of our navy have 
also succumbed to the terrors of the bar. On a recent occasion 
the steamship “ Ossipee ” caught a cleaning there, of which the 
local press were forced to take notice. The Alta California of 
Nov. 28, 1870, says : “ The pilot-boat 4 Curtis ’ went outside the 
heads last Saturday to take the pilot of the U. S. steamer 
‘ Ossipee,’ which cleared for a cruise on the southern coast. On 
reaching the bar a very rough sea was encountered. A boat 
was lowered from the 4 Curtis,’ and being manned by one of 
the crew, started for the 4 Ossipee ’ to take off the pilot. It had 
proceeded but a short distance when it was capsized. A boat 
was at once lowered from the 4 Ossipee,’ manned, and sent to 


70 


the rescue j they succeeded in saving the man and-landing him 
on the steamer. The pilot states that, soon after this accident, 
a tremendous sea broke over the 4 Ossipee,’ and the water was 
over the heads of those on the poop-deck of the ship ; an officer 
now called to him, * See, the pilot-boat is swamped/ Ho 
looked and saw the 4 Curtis ’ laying on her .beam ends with her 
masts under water. At first sight it was supposed that the boat 
and all on board would be lost, but a friendly wave righted her, 
minus main gaff and head sails, which had been carried away. 
She was now in great danger of going ashore, but those on 
board managed to set a little sail and she got off in safety. 
The 4 Ossipee ’ at once raised a signal of distress , which was seen 
at the lookout and immediately telegraphed to the Merchants’ 
Exchange. The tug 4 Neptune ’ was sent out, but found she 
could not live on the bar. . . . The 4 Ossipee,’ after the acci¬ 

dent, found the water t<Jo rough to ‘put to sea and returned to 
port the same night.” 

The Columbia river can hardly be classed an accessible har¬ 
bor, its entrance being walled in with a huge sand-bar, on which 
the ocean swell breaks with terrific fury. Many vessels have 
been buried in these sands. Among the noble army of martyrs 
the U. S. ship 44 Peacock ” found an inhospitable grave. Lieut. 
Wilkes visited this river and recorded his appreciation of its 
facilities for the general purposes of commerce. He remarks : 
44 On the twenty-eighth of April, at 6, a.m., we made Cape Dis¬ 
appointment, to which we soon came up, with a heavy sea, 
caused by strong winds that prevailed for several days. I, not¬ 
withstanding, stood for the bar of the Columbia river after 
making every preparation to cross it, but on approaching nearer, 
I found the breakers extending from Cape Disappointment to 
Point Adams in one unbroken line. . . . Mere description 

can give little idea of the terrors of the bar of the Columbia; 
all who have seen it have spoken of the wildness of the scene 
and the incessant roar of the waters* representing it as one of 
the most fearful sights that can possibly meet the eye of the 
sailor. The difficulties of its channels, the distance of the 
leading sailing marks and the uncertainty to one unacquainted 
with them, the want of knowledge of the strength and direction 
of currents, the necessity of approaching close to unseen 
dangers, and the transition from clear to turbid waters, all cause 
doubt and mistrust Under such feelings I must confess myself 


laboring, ancl although I had on board a person from the Sand¬ 
wich Islands who professed to be a Columbia river pilot, I found 
him at a loss to designate the true passage, and unable to tell 
whether we were in a right way or not. I therefore determined 
at once to haul off with the tide which was running ebb with 
great rapidity, and which 60 on carried us back to the blue 
waters of the ocean.” 

Prof. Davidson, of the coast survey, in describing this river 
says, 44 The entrance to Columbia river is five miles wide be¬ 
tween the nearests parts of Cape Disappointment and Point 
Adams, bearing N.W, by W. \ W., and S.E. by E. \ E. from 
each other. But the passage is greatly obstructed by shifting 
shoals, which lie two or three miles outside of the line joining 
the two points. The numerous surveys that have been made of 
this bar at different times, prove conclusively the great changes 
constantly going on in the channels through the shoals, that no 
sailing directions that may be prepared can be relied upon for 
any great length of time. The best advice that can be given is, 
when up to the bar take a pilot. . . . During heavy weath¬ 

er, and especially in winter, the sea breaks with terrific fury 
from northwest of Cape Disappointment well to the southward 
of Point Adams. The mail steamers have sometimes to wait 
days for the smallest show of an opening to get in, and sailing 
vessels have laid off the entrance six weeks waiting for a fair 
opportunity to enter. Many lie inside for weeks unable to get 
out; the mail steamers, by exerting all their power, sometimes 
drive through the combers, but have their decks swept fore and 
aft by every sea. Few places present a scene of more wildness 
than this bar during a southeast gale.” 

A telegram to the Sacramento Union , dated Portland, March 
3, 1871, says, u The steamer 4 Ajax* succeeded in crossing the 
bar for San Francisco on Wednesday, at 10, a.m., after three 
hours’ trial. Barques 4 Rosedale,’ 4 Live Yankee,’ and 4 Stella,’ 
are waiting their chances to cross the bar going out. Barque 
‘Whistler’ is aground below St. Helen’s, and may require 
lightening to let her out.” 

44 The ship 4 Montgomery Castle ’ has completed her cargo 
and was hauled out in the stream yesterday ; she is drawing 18 
feet, and will have to wait a rise of water to cross the bar, even 
if the ice blockade was broken up.”— Oregonian , Dec. 29,1870. 

The “river of the west” is often, in the winter months, 


covered with fields of drift ice, which renders its navigation 
dangerous and unreliable. The following citations from the 
Oregonian will demonstrate this fact: 

Dec. 20, 1870. — The Columbia closed. The steamers from the Co¬ 
lumbia river report that slush ice is running heavily, but as yet they are 
able to mate their way through. 

Dec. 22, 1870. — The Columbia river being closed, preventing the 
transportation of the mails below the Dalis, Mr. Underwood tele¬ 
graphed on Tuesday to Ogden, directing that all mails be sent to Sacra¬ 
mento and San Francisco till further orders. 

The steamer ‘Fanny Troop* arrived last evening from the Lower 
Columbia, she reports the running ice very heavy. No further trips 
below will be attempted for the present. 

Dec. 23, 1870. —Yesterday morning the river opposite Stark street 
was frozen almost across, and ice remains far out in the river from the 
eastern bank till late in the day. It will require but few degrees of in¬ 
crease of cold to close the Wallamet against steamboat navigation. 
The steamer ‘ Okanagan ’ succeeded in getting up yesterday from 
Astoria via the Wallamet slough. At St. Helen’s the Columbia was 
very full of ice, and for most of the width of the river it was stationary. 

Dec. 26, 1870. —The ‘Geo. S. Wright’ did not succeed in getting 
down the Columbia river Friday night. The ice blockade was found to 
be so heavy that the ship could not be forced through; she returned and 
is now laying at the steamboat dock. The barque ‘ Lydia,’ ready to 
sail, is also at her moorings at the dock. The steamer ‘ Rescue ’ went 
down as far as St. Helen’s, and returned on account of the ice. 

Dec. 28, 1870. — Owing to the block of ice in the Columbia, the 
steamer * Oraflame ’ was unable to come nearer than St. Helen’s. 

Puget Sound. The approaches into the Strait De Fuca are 
wide and clean, the soundings are regular, and the actions of 
the tides are well ascertained. The long, narrow inland sea, 
known by the general name of Puget Sound, is accessible in all 
winds, and affords secure shelter for the navies of the world. 
In “ a life on the mountain wave,” we have sailed on several 
seas, sounds and straits, but have not witnessed any sheet of 
water presenting so many elements of sublimity and usefulness 
as those comprising the Strait De Fuca, Admiralty Inlet, Hood’s 
Canal and Puget Sound, save and excepting the waters border¬ 
ing on British Columbia. 

Lieut. Wilkes, commanding the U. S. Exploring Expedition, 
visited those waters in 1841, and made general surveys of the 
principal channels and harbors. In describing this labyrinth 
of waters, he states :—“ The Strait De Fuca may be safely nav¬ 
igated ; the wind will for the greater part of the year be found 


70 

to blow through them and generally outwards; the shores of 
the Strait are bold, and anchorage is to be found in but few 
places. We could not obtain bottom in some places with gixty 
fathoms of line, even within a boat’s length of the shore. . . 

Nothing can exceed the beauty of these waters,—no shoal ex¬ 
ists within the Strait of Juan De Fuca, Admiralty Inlet, or 
Hood’s Canal, that can in any way interrupt the navigation of a 
seventy-four gun-ship. I venture nothing in saying that there 
is no country in the world that possesses waters equal to these. 
They cover an area of about 2000 square miles. The shores of 
all these inlets and bays are remarkably bold, so much so that 
in many places a ship’s side would strike the shore before the 
keel would touch the ground. The country by which these wa¬ 
ters are washed is remarkably salubrious, and offers every ad¬ 
vantage for the accommodation of a vast commercial and mili¬ 
tary marine, with conveniences for docks, and a great many 
sites for towns and cities,—at all times well supplied with wa¬ 
ter, and capable of being provided with everything by the sur¬ 
rounding country, which is Well adapted for agriculture.” 

Prof. Davidson has recorded his admiration of these waters. 
He says, “We know not where to point to such a ramification 
of inland navigation, save the British Possessions to the north¬ 
ward. For depth of water, boldness of approaches, freedom 
from hidden dangers, and the immeasurable sea of gigantic tim¬ 
ber coming down to the very shores, these waters are unsur¬ 
passed.” 

Governor Stevens, of Washington Territory, says of this ro¬ 
mantic region :—“ On the wdiole west coast from San Diego to 
the north, nothing like this is met. All the water channels of 
which Admiralty Inlet is composed, are comparatively narrow 
and long. They have all more or less bold shores, and are 
throughout very deep and abrupt, so much so that in many pla¬ 
ces a ship’s side will strike the shore before the keel will touch 
the ground. Even in the interior and most hidden parts, depths 
of fifty and one hundred fathoms occur. . . . Our modern 

and more extensive soundings prove that this depth dimin¬ 
ishes toward the extremities of the inlets and basins. A high 
tide goes up from De Fuca strait into all these sounds. . . . 

Nothing can exceed the beauty and safety of these w r aters for 
navigation ; not a shoal exists within them ; not a hidden rock ; 
no sudden over-falls of the water or the air; no such strong 


flaws of the wind as in other narrow waters. . . . And 

there are in this region so many excellent and most secure ports 
that'the commercial marine of the Pacific ocean may be here 
easily accommodated.” 

u The importance and extent of this inland sea, the number 
and beauties of its numerous harbors, the value of the magnifi¬ 
cent forests by which it is surrounded, and its inexhaustible 
coal beds along its shores, are but little understood or appreci¬ 
ated by those who have not seen and examined for themselves ; 
possessing as it does more than seventeen hundred miles of in¬ 
land shore line, having in every channel, bay or harbor sufficient 
depth of water for the largest ship that floats in any navy in the 
world; channels unobstructed by rocks or sand bars, with an 
entrance so broad and safe that no pilots have been or ever will 
be needed.”— Hon. Alvin Flanders. 

Scenery. In no country we have visited have the gifts of 
God been so lavishly strewn as we have seen along the valley 
of Puget Sound. The clear, transparent atmosphere lends en¬ 
chantment to the crescent of mountains adjacent; those shining 
cupolas as seen in clear days glittering in the sunbeams, afford 
the most charming landscape. In sailing on those waters think¬ 
ing minds are lost in contemplating the beauty and grandeur 
of the scenes ; romantic headlands on the right hand, and bold, 
abrupt islands on the left, with Mount Olympius on the one 
hand, and the frosted peaks in the Cascade range on the other, 
all forming the grandest sight on which the human eye can rest. 
44 The scenery of this part of Admiralty Inlet resembles strongly 
parts of the Hudson river, particularly those above Poughkeep¬ 
sie. The distant highlands, though much more lofty, remind us 
of the Kaat-Kills.” — Wilkes. 

“ A voyage through these waters in the pleasant month of 
June is a source of pleasure and enjoyment; then the atmos¬ 
phere is clear, transparent, exhilarating, and possessed of that 
magnifying power which renders distant objects clear and dis¬ 
tinct to the vision, and gives natural scenery a definite outline 
and sharp cutting against the sky. In the foreground is the 
sound itself, dotted with islands, and penetrating the land in all 
directions with its channels, bays and inlets. Beyond is the 
mainland covered with lofty trees of fir and cedar, with here 
and there a village or milling establishment, nestled in a quiet 
bay, while an occasional prairie, with its comfortable farm hou- 


scs, herds of eattie and horses, and roving fields of hay and 
grain, gives variety to the landscape, and speaks of home, 
plenty and comfort. Beyond these rise the everlasting moun¬ 
tains, miles away, yet distinctly outlined against the sky. To 
the eastward stands St. Helens and Adams, and Ranier, and 
Baker, mighty sentinels upon the Cascade range, whose summits 
penetrate far into the regions of ice and snow, and shine in the 
sun’s rays like mountains of frosted silver. To the westward 
stands Olympus, solitary in his grandeur, without peer or rival 
in his dominion. This mountain is not only visible from the 
sound, but may be seen far out upon the ocean, occupying as it 
does the peninsula between the two. Vancouver’s Island, San 
Juan, and the disputed archipelago, with Whitby Island the 
garden of the Puget Sound country, all constitute interesting- 
parts of the varied and ever-changing scenery.”— Garfield . 

North Pacific Railroad. For nearly a century the leading- 
statesmen of our country have cast longing looks across the 
continent, even to “ the continuous woods, where rolls the Or¬ 
egon.” In 1784, Thomas Jefferson, while representing his coun¬ 
try at the French Capital, secured the services of John Led- 
yard, and equipped that famous traveller for the purpose of ex¬ 
ploring the northwest coast, to search for the source of the Co¬ 
lumbia, and continue with the meanderings of that river to its 
mouth ; also to obtain information relative to the Indian tribes 
in those regions, and the facilities for developing the fur trade 
among those tribes, and the possibility of extending that rich 
trade to the Indies. In 1847, Mr. Benton, in the U. S. Senate, 
when advocating a similar policy, said, “ The preservation of 
our territory on the Pacific, the establishment of a port there 
for the sheltering of our commercial and military marine, the 
protection of our fur trade, and the aid to the whaling vessels, 
the accomplishment of Mr. Jefferson’s idea of commercial com¬ 
munication with Asia, through the heart of our own continent, 
was constantly insisted upon as a consequence of planting an 
American colony at the mouth of the Columbia. That man of 
large and useful ideas, that statesman who could conceive meas 
ures useful to all mankind, and in all time to come, was the 
first to propose that commercial communication, and may also 
be considered the first discoverer of the Columbia river. His 
philosophic mind told him that where a snow-clad mountain, 
like that of the Rocky Mountains, shed the water on one side, 


which collected into such a river as the Missouri, there must be 
a corresponding shedding and collection of waters on the other, 
and thus he was perfectly assured of the existence of a river 
where the Columbia has since been found to be, although no 
navigator had seen its mouth, and no explorer trod its banks. 
His conviction was complete, but the idea was too grand and 
useful to be permitted to rest in speculation. He was then 
Minister to France, and the famous traveller, Ledyard, having 
arrived in Paris on his expedition of discovery to the Nile, was 
prevailed upon by Mr. Jefferson to enter upon a more useful 
field of discovery. He proposed to him to change the theatre 
from the old to the new world, and proceeding to St. Peters¬ 
burg on a passport he would obtain for him, he should there ob¬ 
tain permission from the Empress Catherine to travel her do¬ 
minions in high latitudes to their eastern extremity, cross the 
sea from Kamschatka, or at Behring strait, and descending to 
the northwest coast of America, come down upon the river 
which must head opposite the head of the Missouri, ascend to 
its source in the Rocky Mountains, and then follow the Missou¬ 
ri to the French settlements on the upper Mississippi, and 
thence home. It was a magnificent and a daring project of dis¬ 
covery, and on that account the more captivating to the ardent 
spirit of Ledyard. He undertook it, went to St. Petersburg, re¬ 
ceived the passport of the Empress, and had arrived in Siberia 
when he was overtaken by a revocation of the permission, and 
conducted as a spy out of the country. He then returned to 
Paris, and returned to his original design of exploring the Nile 
to its source, which terminated in his premature death, and de¬ 
prived the world of a young and adventurous explorer, from 
whose ardor, courage, perseverance and genius, great and use¬ 
ful results were to have been expected. Mr. Jefferson was 
frustrated in that, his first attempt to establish the existence of 
the Columbia River. But a time was coming for him to un¬ 
dertake it under better auspices. He became President of the 
United States, and in that character projected the expedition of 
Lewis and Clark, obtained the sanction of Congress, and sent 
them forth to discover the head and course of the river, whose 
mouth was then known for the double purpose of opening an in¬ 
land commercial communication with Asia, and enlarging the 
boundaries of geographical science. The commercial object 
was first placed in his message, and as the object to legitimate 


the expedition. And thus Mr, Jefferson was the first to propose 
the North American road to India , and the introduction of the 
Asiatic trade on that road; and all that I myself have either 
said or written on that subject from the year 1819, when I first 
took it up, down to the present day, when I still contend for it, 
is nothing but the fruit of the seed planted in my mind by the 
philosophic hand of Mr. Jefferson.” 

Fur Trade. The return of the British expedition, under 
Capt. Cook, from the northwest coast, and the reports which 
were circulated relative to the abundance of fur-bearing animals 
in those regions, exerted a powerful influence on the merchants 
in Europe. Among the more ardent spirits of that period in¬ 
fected was John J. Astor; that far-seeing trader immediately 
emigrated to Baltimore, and engaged immediately in the fur 
trade. Soon after he moved his business to New York, and op¬ 
erated on a large scale. In 1809 the Legislature of the Empire 
State incorporated the American Fur Co., of which Mr. Astor 
was the chief operator, and for the purpose of competing with 
the wealthy Russian American Co., on the northwest coast, Mr. 
Astor sought material aid from the United States Congress, 
which was refused on grounds of public policy. In 1810 the 
building of a trading depot at the mouth of the Columbia 
river was determined upon by Mr. Astor, on which occasion 
Mr. Jefferson encouraged the undertaking in the following 
terms :—“ I remember well having invited your proposition on 
this subject, and encouraged it with the assurance of every fa* 
cility and protection which the government could properly af¬ 
ford. I considered as a great public acquisition the commence¬ 
ment of a settlement on that point of the western coast of Amer¬ 
ica, and looked forward with gratification to the time when its 
descendants should have spread themselves throughout the 
whole length of that coast, covering it with free and independ¬ 
ent Americans, unconnected with us but by the ties of blood 
and interest, and enjoying like us the right of self-government.” 

The -continent has been crossed on various parallels, explora¬ 
tions have been prosecuted under the guidance of scientific ex¬ 
perts, the adaptation of the country for railroad purposes has 
been demonstrated by actual experiment. The following com¬ 
parative distances on the competing routes will demonstrate the 
shortest and most practical 


84 


Distance from New York to San Francisco, 

44 “ “ 44 “ Puget Sound, 

44 <{ Boston 44 San Francisco, 

“ 44 “ 44 Puget Sound, 


3,417 miles. 
2,862 44 
3,484 44 
2,942 44 


The Central and Union Railroads, connecting the Bay of San 
Francisco with the valley of the Missouri, have been in active 
working order for several years past. Sherman, the highest el¬ 
evation, soars 8000 feet in the heavens ; much snow falls and ac¬ 
cumulates in the gulches and valleys on the line of the roads, 
which necessitates the construction of snow-sheds over fifty 
miles of the road. Our recent journey over those roads afford¬ 
ed us an opportunity for observing the resources on the route, 
from which wc conclude that the stockholders have little pros¬ 
pect for much local trade or travel. The distance between Co- 
rinne, on Salt Lake, and Kalama, in Washington Territory, 
approaches 800 miles. The country along this route is level, 
rich in soil and pasturage, and capable of producing grain, hay 
• and vegetables in quantities, and feeding large herds of stock. 

Steps have been taken to lay out and construct a road over this 
valley, “ a consummation devoutly wished for.” This road will 
contribute materially to the benefit of the southern counties of 
our territory in general, and will be of great value to our peo¬ 
ple along the valley of Puget Sound. By this route our fisher¬ 
men will transport the rich products of the deep in exchange for 
the clean, sweet salt from Utah, in vast quantities and at short 
notice. Several roads seeking connections with our inland sea 
are now in process of construction, chief among which is the 
44 Northern Pacific.” This vast road, connecting Puget Sound 
with Lake Superior and “ the rest of mankind,” has been richly 
subsidized by Congress, and is now in process of earnest con¬ 
struction ; some 300 miles of the eastern and about 100 miles of 
the western termini arc now finished. The advantages offered 
by tliisToad to travel and transportation are evident, embracing 
the low grade of the mountain pass, the thermal winds from the 
Indies, genial bracing temperature, and a shorter route. This 
road traverses a level plateau of rich agricultural lands, 
which are rapidly filling up with hardy yeomanry, rearing homes 
oh this romantic belt. Governor Stevens, who surveyed this 
route, records his appreciation of those regions. He says: 

4 4 Along the coast the prevailing sea-breezes from the southwest 
in winter* and the northwest in summer, so modify the climate 


85 


that the iso-thermal lines run parallel to the coast, making the cli¬ 
mate of Puget Sound nearly as mild, and in summer more agree¬ 
able than in San Francisco, while it corresponds closely with that 
of the western coast of Europe in the same latitude, and especially 
that of the British islands. The effect of this amelioration from 
the prevalence of the southwest sea breeze is felt in winter, as 
has been here shown as far east as Fort Union, on the Missouri, 
and has a constantly apparent effect on all the country east to 
Fort Benton.” In an earnest desire to demonstrate the advan¬ 
tages of our northwestern country, we cite other authority, show¬ 
ing the shortness of this route, its grade, temperature and pref¬ 
erence over an} 7 other ; we quote from Mr. Mitchell: “Again a 
glance at the internal transit to the valley of the Mississippi by 
railroad on the northern route will show a like result in favor of 
our position. The reconnoisance already made on this route 
shows that the waters of Puget Sound are at least 500 miles 
nearer the great lakes and the distributing rivers of the great 
Mississippi, Missouri and their navigable tributaries. This is 
the only rival route known to the Pacific Coast. And here 
again the question of altitude, which is the great obstacle in the 
path of celerity and profit in conducting railroad enterprises, is 
vastly in our favor. The Central Pacific reaches a summit level 
above the sea of 7842 feet; that of the Union Pacific, in the 
Rocky Mountains, is 8250 feet. Our highest altitude on the line 
of the contemplated Northern Pacific is 6000 feet in the Rocky 
Mountains, with a much more favorable ascent and descent; 
besides, the whole line is comparatively free from obstruction 
by snow, and may be laid in the midst of good and highly pro¬ 
ductive, well timbered and watered agricultural lands through 
the entire route.” 

We conclude this important subject with a quotation from 
Mr. Garfield: “The route of the Northern Pacific Railroad, 
from Lake Superior in the Mississippi valley, to Puget Sound 
on the Pacific, is the shortest one possible between the river and 
ocean. The line of any Pacific road must cross meredians of 
longitude and not parallels of latitude. The further north, 
therefore, such line is located, the more distance is saved by the 
Convergence of these meredians. As St. Louis and St. Paul 
are nearly upon the same meredian, and likewise San Francisco 
and Puget Sound, and the northern route runs as near as prac¬ 
ticable to the northern boundary Of the United States, it follows 


80 

that all that is gained by meredional convergence over any more 
southern route, must be credited to the northern road. Now it 
turns out that this convergence amounts to full 300 miles be¬ 
tween the central and northern routes, making the latter so 
much shorter than the former. This difference amounts to 
twenty per centum of the length of the road, an item of itself 
sufficient to settle the whole question, did not other considera¬ 
tions arise. . . . It is difficult to convince persons, unac¬ 

quainted with the country and the causes affecting meteorological 
conditions on the two routes, of the fact that there is less 
liability to obstructions from snow on the Northern than on the 
Central route; yet such is the fact, and I shall endeavor to 
assign some of the reasons therefor, which will be readily under¬ 
stood by every one present. It is known to all that altitude 
diminishes temperature, or, in common language, increases cold 
and the amount of snow-fall, other conditions being equal. 
Now, by reference to the table of altitudes upon the central 
route, one cause at least of the low winter temperature and 
heavy snow-fall on that route will be apparent. The distance 
from Omaha to Sacramento is 1774 miles. The average altitude 
of 1120 miles of this distance is 5230 feet, while [the lowest 
point in that distance is elevated 3920 feet above the sea level. 
There are on this route 1100 miles having an actual altitude of 
over 4000 feet, 620 miles over 5000 feet, 350 miles over 6000 
feet, and 110 miles over 7000 feet. By this it will be seen that 
the average elevation of the country over which this route 
passes is very great, indicating a low winter temperature and 
heavy snow-fall. Experience proves this to be true, and to such 
an extent that it is yet doubtful whether the line of road ex-* 
tending through this region can be operated successfully for 
several months in the year. Other causes besides altitudes 
operate to increase the snow-fall upon the Sierra Nevada which 
combine to make them what the Spanish name imparts — very 
snowy mountains. By reference to a topographical map of 
North America, it will be seen that the general altitude of the 
continent diminishes as the latitude increases. This not only 
gives the northern route low T er summit levels in passing northern 
ranges, but also very much lower intervening districts of 
country. It has been ascertained by actual measurement that 
the great plain of the Columbia over which the northern road 
must pass,, lies at an elevation of from one to two thousand feet 


only above the level ot the sea, whilst the corresponding basin 
through which the central route passes varies from four to six 
thousand feet high. This fact alone will explain the difference 
of temperature and snow-fall. But there are other causes which 
increase this difference. Another is found in the fact that a 
strong and constant atmospheric current draws through the 
passes of the Rocky Mountains, situated between the 46° and 
49° of north latitude, during the entire winter. This current, 
like the gulf stream along our coast, is several degrees warmer 
than the surrounding atmosphere, and exerts a strong influence 
in modifying the mountain climate and reducing the amount of 
snow there deposited. So great is the effect of this current in 
those mountain regions that herds of buffalo from the adjacent 
plains, and from regions far to the southward, seek this district 
for winter quarters, to find less snow and better grass than else¬ 
where. This atmospheric gulf stream, operating in the very 
centre of the continent, and producing such beneficial results, is 
so remarkable that its existence has been doubted by many who 
have given little or no attention to the meteorology of the 
central and western portions of the continent. Its origin is 
evidently to be found in the warm southwest winds, which blow 
constantly during the winter months, and are deflected to the 
northwest by the Cascades, the upper and dryer stratum alone 
escaping over the mountains and reaching the Columbia basin. 
This stratum passes over the basin in a direct line to the north¬ 
east mainly as an upper current, until it reaches the Rocky 
Mountains, when it is checked in its general flow and escapes 
only through the passes above referred to, carrying with it the 
temperature of the tropics, it gradually parts with its heat along 
the route until its last remnants are apparently exhausted in the 
passes of the Rocky Mountains. To the same cause may be 
attributed what is popularly called the 4 Chinook winds ’ of the 
Columbia basin. These southwest winds, which ordinarily cross 
the basin as an upper current, are occasionally bent downward 
and sweep along the surface. When this occurs all the phe¬ 
nomena of the Chinook winds are manifest; the thermometer 
at once begins to rise, and it matters not how hard the frost or 
how deep the snow, they both rapidly disappear under the 
modifying influences of those inter-tropical breezes.” 

The wonderful phenomena here described by Mr. Garfield, 
existing in those regions, are real and ever present. The influ- 


tmces of therinal currents in the Columbia basin are u fixed as 
in a frost no matter liow deep the snow or hard the frost, they 
vanish quickly before the “ Chinook winds.” Mr. Garfield only 
“ follows in the footsteps of illustrious predecessors,” when he 
ascribes the cause of those changes to the south winds from the 
tropics. If that theory holds good, how can he account for the 
dereliction of those winds in passing heedless over the frigid 
sections fringing the Sierra Nevadas to the southward, and 
withholding tropical moisture; if the south winds have such 
power over our climate why do those intertropical breezes with¬ 
hold their thermal powers from the frozen regions in the 
States to the south? We enter our earnest protest against this 
theory as not only clashing with physical laws, but also in work¬ 
ing rank injustice to the mild and genial climate of Washington 
Territory. In other portions of this work we have demonstrated 
the origin of the “ Chinook winds,” which will bear repetition 
here. The northwest winds accompanying the Japanese current, 
strike our shores with much force, enter our valleys, pass through 
the Cascade Mountains, fan the basin of the Columbia, pene¬ 
trate the passes of the Rocky Mountains, and subside in the 
labyrinth of valleys in those regions. This “ gulf stream,” 
traversing the central plateau of our continent, laden with 
moisture, dissolves ice and snow, stimulates grass, and imparts 
the appearance of green fields and budding orchards to the 
country traversed. This accounts for the warmer climate pre¬ 
vailing on Puget Sound and the Columbia basin, than that found 
in Oregon and northern California. 

Oriental Commerce. The commerce of eastern Asia opens 
profitable channels to our shipping and stimulates shipbuilding 
on the northwest coast. The chief commodities produced in 
China and Japan—silks, opium, indigo, sugars, spices and 
dyes, average high prices in proportion to bulk, and will be 
transported to our shores in powerful steamships connecting with 
the North Pacific Railroad on Puget Sound. This high circle, 
traversing an even temperate lane, over which the finest teas may 
be carried without the loss of taste or flavor, affords speedy 
transit, saving time and interest, enabling merchants to make 
quick sales and obtain immediate returns. This short route, 
offering little wear to men or vessels, and a much lower premium 
on marine risks. The winged messengers of commerce will 
enter the broad Strait DeFuca in sunshine or moonlight, and 


80 

tlieir rich cargoes will pay tribute to our merchants and revenue 
to our government, while, the huge ships will obtain supplies of 
coal and provisions from our mines, farms, gardens and orchards. 

Routes. The following exhibits some striking facts, demon¬ 
strating the relative facilities for developing commerce w T ith 
eastern Asia ; as figures won’t lie, we commend this important 
statement to the careful attention of thinking minds : 

Distance from New York to Shanghai, via Chicago, 

San Francisco and Midway Island, 10,423 miles. 

Do., do., via North P. R. R. and Puget Sound, 8,75C “ 

Dist. from Philadelphia to Shanghai, via Chicago, 

San Francisco and Midway Island, 10,343 “ 

Do., do., via North P. R. R. and Puget Sound, 8,675 “ 

Distance from Baltimore to Shanghai, via St. Louis, 

San Francisco and Midway Island, 10,390 “ 

Do., via Chicago, N. P. R. R. and Puget Sound, 8,675 “ 

For nearly forty years on the sea we have observed the onward 
progress of ocean steam navigation, and we naturally look to 
the floating palaces as the common carriers of the most valuable 
articles of commerce. The coarse freight will, as heretofore, be 
transported in sailing vessels. The lumber and coal produced 
in our broad valley will entice the winged messengers to the 
Sound, the steady northwest winds will waft them safely into the 
Strait DeFuca and enable them to gain their destined havens in 
safety. Sailing vessels from India bound to San Francisco, are 
compelled to sight Vancouver’s Island, run down the coast of 
Oregon and California, enter the calm belt — the “ horse lati¬ 
tudes ”— about the Farallones, which are often aggravated by 
thick fogs, detaining vessels for days, and frequently ending in 
shipwreck. Prof. Maury says, “ The trade winds place Van¬ 
couver’s island on the wayside of the road from China and 
Japan to San Francisco so completely, that a trading vessel 
under canvas to the latter place, would take the same route as 
if she was bound for Vancouver’s island, so that all return 
cargoes would naturally come there in order to save two or three 
weeks, besides risk and expense.” 

Population. The great civil war in our country has operated 
adversely to our territorial development, — emigration and 
capital have been diverted from us. Peace being again restored 
a healthy reaction is visible; replenishing streams of hardy 
pioneers have, for several years past, rushed to our shores, and 
the cry is* “ still they come.” The recent census indicates near-; 
ly 30,000 inhabitants. 

12 


U) 

Softools m founded on a substantial basis $ Congress granted 
the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections within our territory for 
the support of common schools. Our pioneers have taken a 
lively interest in the matter; in every settlement, neat, commo¬ 
dious school-houses have been built, in which the young ideas 
are taught to shoot. In the principal towns private schools have 
been established, in which the higher branches are taught at 
reasonable prices. Congress has also provided a munificent do¬ 
main for building and maintaining a University, which has been 
located at Seattle ; a large wooden structure with the necessary 
outbuildings has been erected and furnished with globes, maps, 
books and other useful apparatus. This institution is in suc¬ 
cessful operation, and affords good facilities to the young. 

Churches are liberally sustained, and clergymen of different 
denominations are domiciled in our territory; the consolation 
of the Christian religion is freely dispensed among our people 
and very generally appreciated. 

Press. The pioneers on the Pacific slope are earnest read¬ 
ers and liberally patronize newspapers. In our sparsely pop¬ 
ulated territory the press is freely encouraged, some twelve 
weekly papers being issued, cheerfully sustained and eagerly 
perused. We have several circulating libraries in towns and 
settlements. 

Hotels sufficient to accommodate the public are convenient 
in every village, town or city; board and lodging are obtained 
at lower rates than on the eastern slope. 

Enterprise. In new countries development is checked by 
the scarcity of capital and high rates of interest. Our prosper¬ 
ity has been obstructed for want of means; notwithstanding 
this mueh progress is manifest—getting out timber, manufac¬ 
turing lumber, preparing spars, building vessels, and mining 
operations—all create a lively demand for oxen, and the pro¬ 
ducts of the soil, dairy, forest and the waters. Our calm sea is 
constantly ploughed by swift steamers of various dimensions 
and power; some thirty find remunerative employment either in 
towing vessels, rafts and scows, transporting passengers, mails, 
merchandise or stock, and for other purposes. Our placid sil* 
very waters afford attractive inducements to the smaller classes 
of steamboats, as fuel and water are omnipresent. 

Founderies are located in various places, in which iron, cop* 
per and other metals are worked. Stoves are manufactured to 


91 


a limited extent, and greater development in this branch is 
hoped for. The abundance of iron and coal in our valley, and 
the great demand for axes and other edged-tools among our 
lumbermen, justifies the hope that hardware in its various 
branches may ere long be manufactured on the Sound. The 
annual grain crops have called several mills into active opera- 
tign. Various grades of flour and feed for domestic and other 
purposes are ground and furnished at moderate figures. 

Tanneries are in active operation; the cheapness of hides 
and the abundance of oak, laurel, birch, fir and hemlock bark in 
these regions, enable those establishments to furnish good 
leather. The superiority of our stock, the present demand for 
lumbering, and the prospective requirements of the fishermen, 
warrants earnest development in manufacturing heavy, strong 
boots. Several establishments are now engaged in that indus¬ 
try, and many more are needed to supply the demand, which is 
enormous, and daily on the increase. We commend this busi¬ 
ness to practical bootmakers of means and pluck. 

Health. Our romantic country, basking in countless bless¬ 
ings, enjoys an enviable eminence on the score of health. Our 
cool nights forbids the nestling of fever or ague in our valley. 
The ills to which the flesh is heir in less favored climes seldom 
perch on our shores. No poisonous reptiles or mad dogs dis¬ 
turb our community—quacks betake themselves to honest labor, 
while “ divine professors of the healing art” reap their bread by 
the sweat of the brow. 

Our limited space admonishes economy, and items of general 
information are passed over. We append the annexed exhibit 
for the Territory of Washington from the recent census of 1870 : 


1)2 


H 

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a 

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d 

3 

l-H 

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, HWM 05 fcO 10 09 10 tO>f-tO MODWMHO 
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f—1 

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to M 1—1 I- 1 

M If- 50 M 09 09 09 05 09 1— ‘ If- 1—l 05 M 00 If- tO tO If- 05) 

COCDCOtOf-‘O5CDCOC50000-4OttOCO—l©l—‘Ml—‘if- 
M09C0C5C4tOtO09C5Mif-G009MMMlf—COGCGCCO 

•S0IRTO 9!}iqAY 

jo jd'qxnuK 

to l— 1 

M M M 00 M 1 — 1 rf— I—* OSOMMHM MtOtO 
t0 05Mt0lf-©05lf-65C®Ot05©C0tOCD-40Clf-C0-4 
G0t0MG5t0 09©lf-05CtCiMC9OtCCGt©M-4H-CC’ 

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V—* h- 1 k— 1 )— 1 

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‘S8JBUI P9J0I00 

jo aaqiunx 

1—1 1—1 1—1 1—1 

CO 00 Ot 09 to CD Gt 00 M 09 tO ptOOt M CO 

H-OMMOO-4M—JOCOCDtOtOH-OOCOtOGtlf-CH 

•S9IRUI9J pg.TOIOO 

jo jgqiun^ 

23,816 11,594 

Ut to 1-1 to 1-1 09 

09 CO 09 to to -4 M C5 If- -4 tO 00 I—* GO 09 tO 05 00 09 -5 O 

tO©©—4 1f-G909—4M09—tGG©H—tO—4tp©—4 09GO 

CO f— * tO O C5 CO 09 05 Hi CO 09 CO If— —4 50 O C5 If— —4 O 1—1 

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1-1 1—1 1-1 to 

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—< i— If- © © -4 ■— to 05 V. © if- 09 09 © if- /. — go 

to CO to —t 05 09 04 O to if- to H- O 1-1 4- CO Ot 05 K- 

•0981 

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to 09 MM09C5CD 09MMMMM 

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'■J-i'J-i'to't© '©'-t 'cd'o'oo '©*©5— i'm'oIo '©'©'© 

if— 50 If— © Ot -4 OlOCiOOWfrKKOOa 

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fflOOMI^OlfiH 1— tO 09 CO p —4 M 50 O p 09 —4 

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Ot 1-1 1—1 On CJ 1 00 CO © If— O —4 GO O CO 09 4 - 4 tO C5 CO 

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sioqsna 


\ 


U. S. CENSUS FOR 1870. 

































































Recapitulation. Geographically, Puget Sound forms the 
central focus of our vast domains on the northwest coast, being 
equi-distant from San Diego on the southeast, and the peninsu¬ 
la of Alaska on the northwest. The iso-thermal line of 50° on 
which the great cities, universities, manufactures, commerce, 
and the visible wealth of the world is located, passes through 
our vale-of-paradise. The warm stream from the Indies bathes 
our shores, the aerial trade-winds accompanying the 44 gulf 
stream ” fan our coast and modify our temperature, the moist 
wind from the tropics tempers our winters and bathes our fields 
with vernal showers, purifies our atmosphere, revives the sick, 
stimulates grass, mantles our pastures in living green, decks 
our orchards with budding shrubbery, and dresses our gardens 
with blooming flowers. 

Harbors are continuous and secure from all winds, the ebb 
and flood of the ocean tides facilitate repairing, cleaning, 
painting, and afford every facility for seining and trapping fish. 
The vast resources latent in and around Alaska—cedar, coal, 
iron, copper, silver and gold ; furs—bears, wolves, panthers, 
elk, deer, fox, etc.; cod, halibut, salmon, otter, seal, walrus and 
whale,—the visible and invisible treasures of that great territory 
will be developed from Puget Sound. The enormous wealth 
now slumbering in Siberia, metals and furs, fish, oil and ivory, 
will also enter our strait and pay tribute to our people. The 
rich products of the Indies will land on our shores, and pay 
freight to our ships and revenue to our treasury. The North 
Pacific Railroad, traversing over the iso-thermal plateau of 50°, 
connecting at each terminus with ocean steamships, will trans¬ 
port the products of Asia and the treasures from the sea to 
the marts of northeastern America and northwestern Europe. 
Ocean steamers congregating in our waters will create an active 
demand for, and develop our coal and iron and other useful met¬ 
als ; founderies, forges and machine-shops will be reared at the 
principal points. The lumber interest along our shores will 
feel the impulse, and greater development in this industry will 
be developed; shipbuilding in all its branches will attain a 
grand scale, jpid our Sound will become the great national ship¬ 
yard on the northwest coast. Our splendid water powers will 
also be harnessed and resound to the music of machinery; vari¬ 
ous branches of mechanism will be established, and manufac¬ 
turing will be developed to a mighty degree. Agriculture will 


94 


prosper in the healthy progress present; stock, horses, oxen, 
cows, sheep and swine, grain, hay, vegetables, and the products 
of the dairy, garden and orchard, will all be in active demand, 
stimulated by a home market. Replenishing streams of hardy 
emigrants to our valley will keep pace with our prosperity ; our 
plains, valleys and bottoms will fill up with industrious farmers, 
who will bring their household gods, wives and children, with 
them, and our waste places will soon smile in domestic glad¬ 
ness. With the march of industry society will improve ; church¬ 
es, schools, colleges, newspapers, and other refining agencies 
will fill up the void, gardens will smile in tasteful flowers and 
rosy garlands under the guidance of intelligent women. Arts 
and science will flourish, men and women of genius will locate 
on our shores and find congenial retreat in nature’s chosen bow¬ 
er—capital will seek investment in our busy marts—bankers, 
underwriters and “money-changers” will congregate, and the 
merchant princes from many lands will also abide with us on 
the margin of Puget Sound. 

Westward, Ho ! The scattering at Babel and the westward 
tramp of the human family is still “ marching on.” The mov¬ 
ing throng is flooding our shores ; every water craft from Eu¬ 
rope comes crowded with precious humanity. Our broad coun¬ 
try welcomes every sovereign, and rewards him with 160 acres 
of land ; the mighty stream travels in the direction of the, set¬ 
ting sun. Many halt by the wayside to pitch their tents in the 
inland valleys. A goodly number, however, press forward and 
cross the plains to find a home and a country in that genial 
clime, “ where the setting west merges into the rising east.” 
The Mediterranean of the northwest, and the Valparaiso fring¬ 
ing that calm sea, attracts general attention. The highway 
where the commerce of eastern Asia must land , absorbs think¬ 
ing minds. The Emporium of the Indies , where the products of 
the Orient are destined to enter, will be built upon our shores. 
The building of a large commercial city on Puget Sound is 
simply a question of time and circumstances. “ I can only add 
that the foundation of the great commercial emporium of the 
Pacific has not yet been laid. The site of that city is now oc¬ 
cupied by a small village, the lands of husbandmen, or the 
primeval forest; but as sure as commerce is controlled by fixed 
laws, as sure as the world is struggling to control the trade of 
eastern Asia, as sure as cause produces effect, the foundation of 


m 

that city must and will bo laid upon the shores of Puget Sound, 
The nation is already awaking to the coming greatness of the 
far North West, and beginning to realize the importance of our 
position in the pathway of universal commerce. The grand 
march of humanity is still onward and westward. Starting 
from the plains of Central Asia in primeval times, man has 
kept step with the music of the ages in his march toward the 
setting sun. On and on, across deserts and seas, mountains 
and oceans, as if following the finger of destiny, he moves with 
the certainty of fate. Generations perish, but posterity takes 
up the march; six thousand years have been deposited in the 
vault of eternity, and yet the tide of life moves on, subduing 
nature, building cities, cultivating the arts, growing in intellect, 
worshipping God. Thus it has been, is, and will be until the 
tide of human life sweeps across our continent, and pausing up¬ 
on the shores of the Pacific, reaches forth to the land of its 
childhood rising in view in the ever distant west. I thank my 
God that my home is in the line of this great movement of the 
race, and that untold myriads will linger upon our shores, at¬ 
tracted by the varied resources, magnificent climate, and com¬ 
mercial facilities of Washington Territory.”— Garfield. 

In view of the inducements latent in Washington Territory, 
its central position, spangled havens, thermal winds, genial 
climate, vernal showers, green fields and smiling gardens, inex¬ 
haustible coal fields, minerals, forests primeval, facilities for 
lumbering and shipbuilding, advantages for developing the 
enormous fisheries on the northwest coast and the valuable fur 
trade in Alaska and Siberia, and the superior convenience for 
carrying on the commerce to and from Asia and across the con¬ 
tinent, what fields are here open to the young men of our 
country. May we not expect many to join us in developing our 
wealth; may we not also look for solid men of capital, with 
their families, from the east, following the course of empire to 
our coast to locate homes, nurture commerce, plant civilization, 
build up society and social amenities among our pioneers in the 
sunset land. From the cultivated nations of Europe — the 
sunny climes of the Latins, La Belle France, Germany, England, 
Ireland and Wales ; from the bracing regions of British America ; 
from the craggy island of Newfoundland; from the foggy penin¬ 
sula of Nova Scotia; from the rock-bound shores of New Eng¬ 
land ; from the bleak sands of the northern lakes ; from the rich 


06 

prairies of the west; from the broad savannas of the south; from 
the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific slope — 

“Come along, come along, don’t be alarmed, 

For Uncle Sam is rich enough to give us all a farm.” 

TRIUMPHS OP THE FISHERMEN. 

In every country where the fisheries have been economically 
prosecuted, they have been successful nurseries of discovery, 
commerce, civilization, and human progress. The live emulation 
which that industry infuses in the youthful breast has lead to 
heroic achievements; the page of history is spangled with 
valorous deeds of the fishermen ; the Apostles, who abandoned 
their nets to share the toils and companionship of Jesus, were 4 
nurtured in the fishing craft. Ernest Rennan pays a lofty tribute 
to the fishermen in the u lake region.” He remarks : “ Very 
successful fisheries were prosecuted on the lake of Tiberius, es¬ 
pecially at Bethsaida and Capernaum, which had provided a 
certain competency. The families of the fishermen formed a 
pleasant and peaceful society, strengthened by numerous bpnds 
of relationship through all the lake regions ; their leisure gave 
larger liberty and scope to their imagination; their manners 
were peaceful and they had something of refinement. They 
seemed somewhat analagous to the better portions of the popu¬ 
lation in the Lebanon, but with the capability of producing great 
men. Jesus there found his real family, he installed himself 
among them as one of themselves ; Capernaum became his own 
city; in the midst of their little circle which adored him, he 
forgot his sceptical brothers — ungrateful Nazareth and its 
mocking credulity. . . . Jesus, who was fond of playing 

upon words, occasionally said that he would make them fishers 
of men.” 

The countries of Europe bordering on the Mediterranean fos¬ 
tered the fisheries. The republic of Venice extended great fa¬ 
cilities to that industry, and her merchants for centuries mo¬ 
nopolized the rich trade with the east. Genoa afforded but lit¬ 
tle scope at home to her fishermen; they went abroad to oper¬ 
ate among the isles of Greece, “ where burning Sappho loved 
and sung.” They also extended their voyages to the Black 
Sea, and acquired a heavy prestige. At one period they con¬ 
trolled the navigation of the Bosphorus, and collected tribute of 
foreign vessels passing through those waters* The countries 


97 


of northwest Europe have also given much encouragement to 
the fisheries. Holland has been earnest in developing the herring 
fishery; for centuries her fishermen held a monopoly of that 
profitable industry; a proverb still prevails among the old 
sailors that “ Amsterdam is built on herring bones.” The duties 
of a shipmaster are now well defined ; a trim clipper, combining 
all the modern improvements, awaits his orders, well furnished 
cabins afford every comfort, the spar, rope and sailmaker have 
given her wings to walk the waters, a merchant furnishes a 
cargo which the stevedore stows secure, the shipping master 
contracts with the ship’s company and puts it on board, a broker 
prepares the papers and clears the vessel in the custom-house ; 
all being ready the “lord paramount” enters the ship bringing 
an approved time-piece, almanac, navigator, and sailing di¬ 
rections over every sea. A powerful tug-boat tows the vessel to 
sea under the guidance of a branch pilot; having got an offing 
the favored man of destiny takes his metal silver arched sextant, 
gets a sight of the sun, regulates his chronometer, gives the 
course to the steersman by the recently-touched compass, notes 
the barometer and snuffs the gale afar off j his spacious charts, 
perfect in all the discoveries of modern hydrography, point out 
with precision the islands, rocks and shoals in his path; thus 
armed and equipped he pursues the even tenor of his way. If 
he sights strange shores, lights, magnified with illuminating 
apparatus, cheer him on his voyage, and if perchance he spys a 
sail, he sends and receives friendly greetings by means of re¬ 
cognized signals. On approaching his destined port he sets the 
“ Jack,” which attracts the watchful pilot who skilfully conducts 
the argosy into port and moors it safely. 

Ancient Mariners. In early ages “ a life on the mountain 
wave ” was not so pleasant; the vessels were small, rudely 
built, and scantily furnished; the compass, quadrant or chro¬ 
nometer w r ere not in use; the holy pigeons and the heavenly 
bodies were the guides on the trackless sea. Seamen were 
daring, and placed much confidence in lucky stars and super¬ 
natural agency ; they launched out on the waters and made rich 
discoveries, visited strange lands, explored seas, and established 
trade with the denizens of other lands. Through the researches 
of the late Henry Wheaton, the Icelandic manuscripts unfold 
the early discoveries of the European fishermen in Iceland, 
Greenland, Labrador and Gaspe in the ninth century. He 

13 


remarks: u Suppose these discoveries to be authentic, they 
could hardly have escaped the attention of Columbus, who 
himself had navigated the Arctic seas, but whose mind dwelt 
with such intense fondness upon his favorite idea of finding a 
passage to the East Indies across the western ocean, that he 
might have neglected these indications of another continent in 
the direction pursued by earlier adventurers. ... At all 
events there is not the slightest reason to believe that the illus¬ 
trious Genoese was acquainted with the discovery of North 
America by the Northmen before his own time, however well 
authenticated that fact now appears to be by the Icelandic 
records. The colony established by them probably perished in 
the same manner as the ancient establishments at Greenland. 
Some faint traces of its existence may be found in the relations 
of the Jesuit missionaries respecting a native tribe in the dis¬ 
trict of Gaspe, near the mouth of the river St. Lawrence, who 
are said to have attained a degree of civilization, to have wor¬ 
shipped the sun and observed the position of the stars; they 
also revered the symbol of the cross before the arrival of the 
French missionaries, .which, according to their traditions, had 
been taught them by a venerable person who cured, by this 
means, a terrible epidemic that once raged among them.” 

The invention and use of the mariner’s compass has developed 
important discoveries and explorations. In 1797, Cabot, in a 
British vessel, made a direct voyage to Newfoundland, from 
which he brought a good return in fish, oil and fur. This voyage 
created an intense excitement in Europe, and stimulated the 
merchants to maritime adventure in the new world. 

The lone, barren island of Newfoundland, indented with bays, 
coves and arms, affords congenial resort for fish. To this El 
Dorado the adventurous spirits of the old world directed their 
best energies. On this sterile island the first European settle¬ 
ment in America was planted; the first church on our continent 
was built on this rock, and the first white child put in an ap¬ 
pearance there. Bacon directed the first flash of his genius to 
this colony. Baltimore laid down here the foundation of uni¬ 
versal brotherhood; the first civil court from which went forth 
the imperishable safeguards of the great charter was located on 
this “ lone barren isle.” About one hundred years before the 
landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, the city of St. Johns was 
founded, and became the entrepot of the period. One thousand 


00 


vessels fished and traded around the islaiid, and procured valu* 
able fares a century before any portion of New England was 
settled. 

The resources so abundant around Newfoundland have been 
earnestly prosecuted. During the war with the America^ col¬ 
onies, the British government nearly ruined the fisheries by 
making continual drafts on the fishermen. The Royal Navy 
obtained its best seamen among them, and they were cruelly 
impressed, entailing much hardship and distress among the 
community. The restoration of peace was gladly hailed by the 
“ hardy toilers by the sea,” and they readily embarked again in 
developing the fisheries. Hundreds of traders from Europe lo¬ 
cated along the coast, immense capital was invested, and 
healthy reaction and general progress was visible. The revolu¬ 
tion in France and the wars incident to that fearful commotion, 
created a great demand for fish. In 1814, one million two hun¬ 
dred thousand quintals of dry fish, with salmon, oil and peltry 
amounting to $12,000,000, left the island, the merchants ac- 
cummulating princely fortunes. The business is still success¬ 
fully prosecuted, the past season having been prolific of great 
success. The products of the seas will approach $8,000,000, 
which, for a population under 150,000, speaks volumes. 

The French fishermen operated early in American waters. In 
1534 Jaques Caiten explored the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and 
stimulated the French Government to inaugurate a system of 
emigration to America on a broad scale. . The mokt available 
shores around the Gulf of St. Lawrence soon resounded to the 
hum of the fishermen ; every bay was thronged with boats and 
vessels—immense profits were annually realized, and the French 
shipowners were numbered among the merchant princes in Eu¬ 
rope. u Accounts, which are considered authentic, show that 
they employed nearly 600 vessels, and upwards of 27,000 men, 
and that the annual produce was almost 1,500,000 quintals of 
fish, of the value of more than $4,500,000.”— Sabine. 

Cape Breton Island formed the principal base in prosecuting 
the fisheries ; there they built the city of Louisburg, and forti¬ 
fied it with 200 guns. Commerce and trade flourished, palaces, 
churches, nunneries and fine residences were numerous, which 
were tastefully adorned by surrounding gardens. “ This city 
was named in honor of the King; twenty-five years and 30,- 
000,000 of livres were required to complete it. Tts walls were 


ioo 

built of bricks brought from France. More than two hundred 
pieces of cannon were mounted to defend it. So great was its 
strength that it was called the Dunkirk of America. It had 
nunneries and palaces, terraces and gardens. That such a city 
rose upon a lone desolate isle in the infancy of American colo¬ 
nization, appears incredible. Explanation is alone found in the 
fishing enthusiasm of the period.”— Sabine. 

In 1602 a British fleet, under Gosnald, visited New England 
and explored the waters fringing that coast. Cape Cod harbor 
appears to have been the base of operation ; different varieties 
of fish were found in great numbers, and the mainland furnished 
valuable furs, which the Indians bartered with the strangers. 
The wealth latent in and around Massachusetts was duly re¬ 
ported in Britain, which raised an excitement and stimulated 
the most adventurous spirits to visit our waters; among the 
more ardent came the redoubtable Capt. John Smith, a man 
very generally known among the merchants of Europe. In 
1614 he made a voyage to our shores, explored the coast bord¬ 
ering on Massachusetts Bay, and drove a successful trade with 
the natives, and caught a fare of cod. On his return to Eng¬ 
land he parceled out the products of his voyage to the elite of 
the kingdom ; he also circulated wonderful reports touching the 
fabulous wealth latent in New England, which stirred up the 
people to a degree of frenzy. Merchants invested largely in 
the American fisheries ; officers in the army, navy and civil ser¬ 
vice, in numbers, resigned positions of emolument; noblemen 
abandoned their estates ; judges doffed the ermine ; clergymen 
their cassocks, and joined Smith in an enterprise to Massachu¬ 
setts for fish, oil and peltry. Hundreds of vessels came, and 
the products of the land and sea were earnestly sought. The 
germ of our commerce was then and there “ sown in weakness.” 

Nor was the excitement confined exclusively to the British 
isles ; it raged violently on the continent and affected commu¬ 
nities. In Holland it attacked even the staid Puritans. They 
had for years witnessed the successful development of the her¬ 
ring fishery at Leyden, and they now determined to take a hand 
in the more excellent fish in America. In this frame of mind 
they sent a delegation to England to the British King imploring 
His Majesty for the privilege to settle in America and develop 
the fisheries on that coast. The King deemed the request a fa¬ 
vorable excuse to get clear of a turbulent element, and he gave 


iol 

iiis consent readily, exclaiming, u So God have my soul, ’tis an 
honest trade, ’twas the Apostle’s own calling.” Having thus 
obtained the Royal sanction, the Puritans left the old for the 
new world. After much tribulation they came, they saw, they 
conquered,—they made Plymouth Rock the corner stone of the 
great republic, and the result is before the world. 

The British government has always been partial to the u home 
merchants,” even at the expense of its colonial subjects. The 
heroic pioneers who planted the first settlements in America 
were seldom cared for, their best interests having often been 
sacrificed in behalf of the home pets. In the early colonization 
of Newfoundland the shore boat fisheries were destroyed in the 
belief that such destruction would help the home fleet on the 
banks. This ruin spread broadcast for several years, entailing 
much hardship and distress among the hardy islanders. 

The British government extended little protection to the 
New England settlers. In their wars with the neighboring In¬ 
dian tribes they relied wholly on their own resources; they 
“ feared God and kept their powder dry,” and maintained whole¬ 
some government at every hazard. The French Acadians on 
the borders were fast increasing in prosperity and power,—an 
“ irrepressible conflict ” existed between the races, and disputes 
were common, often ending in sanguinary broils. The heroic 
fishermen of Massachusetts determined to clean their old en¬ 
emies out of American waters entirety, and the capture of Lou- 
isburg was planned. In 1745 the merchants of New England 
combined into a league for a final struggle for supremacy. 
They furnished vessels and the sinews of war. The fishermen 
manned the fleet; mechanics, lumbermen and farmers joined the 
ranks. The expedition was conducted by Win. Peperell, a 
fisherman from Maine. “ A more undisciplined body of men 
never embarked to attempt the reduction of a walled city. The 
squadron commanded by Warren, and ordered to co-operate 
with Peperell, arrived in time to share in the perils and horrors 
of the siege. The colonial fleet and the ships of the royal 
navy kept up a close blockade. The colonists on shore, w ithout 
a regular encampment, lodged in huts built of turf and bushes ; 
with straps across their shoulders they dragged cannon in 
sledges over morasses impassable with wheels. Making jest of 
military subordination they fired at marks, fished and fowled, 
raced and wrestled, and chased after the balls shot from the 


i(j2 

French guns. Badly sheltered, and exhausted by toil in mud 
and water and exposure in a cold and foggy climate, fifteen 
hundred became sick and unfit for duty. Still the siege was 
conducted with surpassing energy, with some skill and courage 
seldom equalled; nine thousand cannon balls were discharged 
by the assailants. The French commander submitted on the 
forty-ninth day of the investment. The victors entered the 
Dunkirk of the western world amazed at their own achieve¬ 
ments. ”— Sabine. 

Notwithstanding that the British government restored Louis- 
burg afterwards to the French, in exchange for some islands in 
the Indies, yet the blow was struck which opened the Gulf of 
St. Lawrence to the Saxon. The British nation gave little 
credit to the colonial fishermen for their daring exploits ; intense 
jealousy prevailed, instigated by the wonderful strides which the 
New England colonists were making in developing the fisheries 
and commerce. This feeling finds an illustration in a writer of 
that period : “ New England,” he said, “ is the most dangerous 

plantation to this kingdom in America; none are so apt at 
shipbuilding or so qualified for the nurturing of seamen, by 
reason of their cod and mackerel fisheries. In my opinion 
there is nothing more prejudicial and in prospect more danger¬ 
ous to my mother country than the increase of ships in her 
colonies.” 

The Imperial Parliament drank deep of this poision and took 
the fatal steps which severed valuable branches from the parent 
trunk ; in 1773 that body passed a law for the ruin of the fish¬ 
eries in New England; high prohibitory duties were levied on 
the products of the foreign colonies in the West Indies landing 
in New England. In executing those measures the revenue 
officers were subjected to abuse, and in some cases, to bodily 
chastisement. The people were earnest in stirring up a warm 
opposition to this oppressive statute. “ Cheap sweetening ” 
became the password to fire the northern heart, — a text which 
James Otis expounded with telling effect, In all the commo¬ 
tions through which our country has since passed — the wars 
with the mother country and the awful rebellion in the south — 
the heroic deeds of the fishermen shine in historic brass* The 
recent “ cutting out ” of the “ Horton” demonstrates the daring 
valor of the fisherman. 

Fishermen as a class consume less fish than is generally sup- 


103 


posed; they seldom touch the coarse-grained portions, — the 
jowl, lip, tongue, sound and nape constitute their fish diet. 
Learned physiologists assert that sweet fresh fish, properly 
cooked, affords the most desirable brain food and healthy 
nourishment for intellectual development; this theory accounts 
in part for the success among fishermen. As a reformatory 
school the fishing craft affords genial scope to the most un¬ 
governable youth ; the keen desire to be high line, and the burn¬ 
ing ambition to lead in sailing, renders this calling the most 
acceptable. Many a runaway boy has risen to honorable 
positions of trust through this live industry. Poor boys engage 
in it at an early age. The season embraces eight months, w T hich 
is devoted to fitting, fishing and curing; the few inclement 
months afford an opportunity for acquiring the rudiments of 
education in the poor boy’s college — the free schools. From 
such humble beginnings some have risen to .commercial renown ; 
the Pattens, Cushings, Coffins, Bacons, Howes, Fosters, Bakers, 
Nickersons, Ryders, Lombards, Westons, Holmes’, Baxters, 
Hallets, Sturgis’, Grinnells, and others among our merchant 
princes now basking in wealth, have won their earliest laurels 
at the cod-line. 

Legislation friendly to the development of our fisheries is 
now earnestly demanded and appeals warmly to our govern¬ 
ment. The depressed condition of our shipping unites in this 
call. Commendable efforts have been put forth to stimulate 
shipbuilding. We submit a few practical suggestions to the 
“ assembled wisdom ” of our country touching the needed 
measures most likely to stimulate our fisheries, and the devel¬ 
opment of our commerce: 

First — A governmental subsidy, payable on the products of 
the sea. 

Second — The immediate incorporation of British America 
with our country. 

Lastly — The creation of a department in our government 
supervising our fisheries and commerce. 

The maritime nations of northern Europe have, from time 
immemorial, encouraged the fisheries — a policy which has been 
crowned with happy success. Denmark pays large sums annu¬ 
ally for developing the fisheries around Iceland and Greenland; 
that industry has attained great proportions, and is earnestly 


104 


prosecuted with good results. The British Parliament appro* 
priated direct subsidies to the fishing vessels from the United 
Kingdom employed in the American fisheries ; indirect facilities 
are also extended to the business; the capital invested is free 
from taxation, and the outfits are obtained in bond, saving con¬ 
siderable to those engaged in the business. 

The French government have, for centuries, given the greatest 
premium on fish. From the interesting report on the American 
Fisheries, by Hon. Lorenzo Sabine, and printed by the Secretary 
of the Treasury in 1853, we learn that the National Assembly 
of France has passed a law of the following tenure relative to 
the great maritime fisheries, June 24th, and July 9th and 22d, 
1861 : 

Chap. 1. Cod Fishery. From the 1st of Jan., 1852, to the 
30th of June, 1861, the bounty granted for the encouragement 
of the cod-fishery will be as follows : 

First—Bounty on outfit. Fifty francs per man of the crew 
employed in the fishery, either on the coast of Newfoundland, 
at St. Peter’s and Miquelon, or on the Grand Bank, and possess¬ 
ing a drying place. Fifty francs per man of the crew employed 
in the Iceland fishery, without a drying place. Thirty francs 
per man of the crew employed in the fishery on the Grand Bank 
of Newfoundland, and without a drying place. Fifteen francs 
per man of the crew employed in the Dogger Bank fishery. 

Second — Bounty on the produce of the fishery. Twenty 
francs per metric quintal of dry codfish, the produce of the 
French fishery, to be shipped either direct from the fishing es¬ 
tablishments, or from the ports of France, for the markets of the 
French colonies of America and India, or for the settlement on 
the west coast of Africa and other transatlantic countries. Pro¬ 
vided always, That the fish be landed at a port where there is 
a French Consul. Sixteen francs per metric quintal of dry 
codfish, the produce of the French fishery, shipped either direct 
from the fishing settlements, or from the ports of France, and 
destined for the countries of Europe and the foreign States on 
the shores of the Mediterranean, Sardinia and Algeria being 
excepted. Sixteen francs per metric quintal of dry codfish, 
the produce of the French fishery, that may be imported into 
the French colonies of America and India, and other transatlan¬ 
tic countries where such fish are exported from the ports of 
France without having been landed. Twelve francs per metric 
quintal of dry codfish, the produce of the French fishery, ship¬ 
ped for Sardinia and Algeria, either direct from the fishing 
settlements or from the ports of France. Twenty francs per 
metric* quintal of the hard roe of codfish, the produce of the 
French fishery, brought into France by their fishing vessels. 

Metric quintal — 220lbs. 


105 


The Dominion of Canada pays liberal subsidies in developing 
the fisheries, and the business is earnestly prosecuted with ap¬ 
parent success. The completion of the railroad to Halifax, and 
the prospective benefit from the “ Treaty of Washington,” will 
stimulate the colonial fisheries and rear a grand commerce. 

The fishing industry engaged the most earnest attention of 
our early statesmen; the war of Independence sprung out of 
measures directly affecting that business. The restoration of 
peace, the adoption of the Federal Constitution, and the wheels 
of government being in motion, the time was opportune for in¬ 
augurating measures of relief to the fishermen. In 1790, 
President Washington, in his annual message, submitted to 
Congress, that “The navigation and the fisheries of the United 
States are objects too interesting not to inspire a disposition to 
promote them by all means which shall appear to us consistent 
with their natural progress and permanent prosperity.” Con¬ 
gress acted on that wise policy and appropriated a specific sub¬ 
sidy, graduated to the capacity of the vessels emphtyed in the 
fisheries. In 1802, President Jefferson urged upon Congress 
the propriety of fostering our fisheries “ as nurseries of navi¬ 
gation and the nurture of man.” Here we behold the master 
mind of the period leading in the path of progress, “ the man 
of great ideas,” who, in the Declaration of Independence, in¬ 
dicted the British King for open violation of English law's ; the 
political economist, wdio, in the very first year of our national 
existence, equipped Ledyard and sent that famous traveler to 
the northwest coast of our continent for the purpose of finding 
the Columbia river and its facilities for commerce ; the far-seeing- 
patriot under whose auspices Lewis and Clark crossed to the 
Pacific to locate a national route ; the philosophic brain which 
stimulated Astor to plant an American colony in the wilds of 
Oregon to develop the fur trade among the Indian tribes in those 
regions, and to inaugurate commercial intercourse with the 
people of eastern Asia; this live statesman now prevails on 
Congress to w r eld the connecting link in the chain of American 
destiny, by subsidizing the fisheries as the sure nursery of a 
mighty commerce. The committee to whom this matter w r as 
referred, submitted that “ There was too much reason to belie%e 
{hat both the whaling and codfisheries had been for some time 
on the decline. ... As a means to reanimate them they 
recommend that vessels actually employed in the fisheries sjiould 

14 


106 


iiot be subjected to the payment of tonnage duty; that fisher¬ 
men should be exempt from the charge of hospital money ; and 
that the bounty under existing laws should be paid in cases of 
shipwreck.” This recommendation was adopted, and the fishing 
industry prospered for a season. The embargo proved disastrous, 
much distress prevailed; the war with England completed the 
ruin of the business ; many vessels were captured or destroyed, 
which inflicted untold hardships on the fishing communities. 
After the proclamation of peace Congress came to the rescue, 
high duties were levied on all imported fish, and healthy de¬ 
velopment followed. In 1819 Congress increased the bounty; 
vessels under thirty tons obtained three dollars and a half, 
larger vessels four dollars per ton ; no vessel received over three 
hundred and sixty dollars in one season. The subsidy thus 
provided was subject to conditions, as to men and the time de¬ 
voted to the fisheries. The premium paid stimulated commerce 
along the eastern coast; swift vessels have been launched; 
oceans and seas have been explored; islands and reefs have 
been discovered ; the monsters of the deep have been captured ; 
the sails of our fleets have whitened every bay ; the bounds of 
civilization have been extended, and the “ Star Spangled Ban¬ 
ner ” has waved in the uttermost parts of the earth. The suc¬ 
cess which has crowned the governmental bounty exceeded 
the most sanguine expectations of its early advocates. This 
wonderful prosperity excited the jealousy and animosity of the 
agricultural sections in the south and west, and a virulent 
crusade was fomented against it. On the 20th of Feb., 1852, 
the following circular from the Treasury Department was issued 
to the Collectors of Customs: 

u For the purpose of producing uniformity in the requirements 
of proof by Collectors who are charged with the allowance of 
bounty on the tonnage of vessels employed in the codfislieries, 
it has been deemed advisable to embody the existing regula¬ 
tions. , . .No fishing vessel of which the fishermen are 

compensated for their services on board by w T ages is entitled to 
bounty. . . .No fishing vessel is entitled to the bounty 

unless it is proved that the master and tliree-fourths of her 
crew are citizens of the United States. . . . From the 

original act of 1792, changing the drawback on dried fish ex¬ 
ported, to bounty on tonnage employed in the codfislieries, it 
has been held that to entitle any vessel to bounty, she must have 


107 


been employed exclusively in catching codfish for the purpose of 
being dried. ... No part of a voyage, in which halibut, 
mackerel, or any other fish are taken as well as cod, can be 
reckoned as a portion of the time required by laic; the fare must 
be regarded as one of mixed fishery, which cannot be taken into 
computation of the time required for bounty. . . . But the 

taking of mackerel by any vessel under codfish license is regarded 
as a violation of the license laws; such illegal fishery during any 

season will forfeit all claim to bounty for that season . 

Vessels employed in taking fish for sale in a fresh condition, as 
well as fish to be preserved by pickling, are not within the bounty 
laws, and no voyage in which such fisheries are pursued can be 
legally computed as any part of the period required for the al¬ 
lowance of bounty.” 

This extinguisher was carried out to the letter by the revenue 
agents, and operated to close the subsidy to many fishermen. 
Secretary Cobb drove the last nail in the coffin when he issued 
his constructions to his subordinates. No matter how just the 
claim, the master of a vessel could not obtain the fishing bounty 
except through open perjury. Thus, no honest man would, 
under the circumstances, apply for it, and the humble nursery of 
our commerce “ died of a rose in aromatic pain.” 

In view of the premium which commercial nations are an¬ 
nually paying to their fishermen, and the depressed condition of 
our shipping interest, Congress should nqjv step to the verge of 
its power in subsidizing the American fisheries on a scale com¬ 
mensurate with their extent and value. 

All vessels participating in our fisheries should be built, rig¬ 
ged and equipped out of the products of our country; to carry 
a specified number of boys as a part of the crew, and to devote 
six months in fitting, fishing, curing and marketing fish ; vessels 
thus employed to receive governmental subsidy on the produce 
of the salt fisheries, one cent per pound on dry, and one half 
cent per pound on pickled fish. This bounty falls much lower 
than that annually paid by the French government to its fisher¬ 
men. 

It has been shown that the “ Yankees ” captured Louisburg 
and opened the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the adjacent fishing 
grounds to the Saxons. Through a bloody baptism they won 
their title to those regions ; conscious of their rights, they and 
their descendcnts have resorted to the provincial waters in quest 


108 


of treasures latent there. The people domiciled on the shores 
of the maritime colonies have realized substantial benefits, and 
hail our fishermen as “ ministering angels.’ 1 In our boyhood 
we witnessed many acts of kindness from the American fisher¬ 
men to our country people on Prince Edward Island. We know 
that the generosity of the a Yankees ” have won the grateful ap¬ 
preciation of the inhabitants, and that a majority are anxions 
for immediate union with the United States. The hardy toilers 
in Newfoundland are also knocking for admission; neither 
threats or blandishments sufficed to rope them in with the Ca¬ 
nadians, From Nova Scotia we have the u glad tidings 11 that 
the heroic fishermen along that coast are most earnest for “ a 
closer walk ” with our republic. The railroad to Halifax will 
bind the union and consummate the nuptials. New Brunswick, 
sandwiched in, will “follow the lead” of her more advanced 
neighbors, and, like ripe fruit, will on some fine morning fall of 
its own weight into Uncle Samuel’s basket. Mantibo has been 
heard from ; Rielly and his compatriots have given some strik¬ 
ing yearnings for a change. British Columbia has spoken 
in plain language to her Majesty, Victoria ; the people of that 
romantic colony, with wonderful unanimity, petitioned President 
Grant to have mercy upon them, and to incorporate them with 
the universal Yankee nation. Thus we observe the commercial 
interests along the entire seaboard of the “ Dominion ” seeking 
closer relation, and “ a more perfect union” with our country. 

The people of Canada will soon sec the great benefits to be 
realized from an early incorporation into our family of States. 
The great Northwest is fast developing in material wealth ; that 
prolific section depends mainly on the St. Lawrence as the nat¬ 
ural channel to the markets of northwestern Europe. The early 
completion of the North Pacific Railroad through a fertile belt 
of land and terminating at Lake Superior, will stimulate indus¬ 
try. The Welland Canal affords a shallow channel for trans¬ 
porting the vast products of the farm, forest and the sea. In¬ 
ternal improvements commensurate with the requirements of 
commerce must be inaugurated ; spacious canals are demanded, 
which call for enormous expenditures; hundreds of millions 
must be forthcoming to consummate those great measures so 
beneficial to our country in general, and particularly to the 
Northwest coast. 


Her Majesty’s subjects in British America have made com¬ 
mendable advancement in material and intellectual progress. 
They have been nurtured in the principles of the great charter of 
freedom, and are well qualified to maintain liberal self-govern¬ 
ment. They have made healthy strides in developing industry 
and mechanism; they will come into our Union on the broad 
platform of equal rights. The Canadas and the maritime colo¬ 
nies will enter as Sovereign States , reserving to their respective 
legislatures the control of local affairs. Mantibo and British 
Columbia should be admitted as Territories , under the same res¬ 
traints and subject to the same laws regulating affairs in Wyom¬ 
ing, Idaho and other territories. 

This policy offers the best method for settling the “ Horton” 
case, and the surest guarantee for the future maintenance of 
harmony and good will. Healthy progress will follow ; peace¬ 
ful commerce will thrive ; the fishermen will compete for the 
treasures of the deep under the protecting aegis of the Union 
flag, with none to molest them ; shipbuilding will be stimulated 
under 11 the new dispensation ;” mechanical labor will be in active 
demand, and our people will rejoice “ in the good time coming.” 
Our government should lead in this measure. President Grant 
should earnestly recommend this theme in his forthcoming mes¬ 
sage. Congress may take timely heed and pass liberal enabling 
acts inviting the British colonists into the great national house¬ 
hold. Every effort should be put forth tending to unite the great 
Anglo Saxon race in the bonds of political unity and fraternal 
brotherhood. As a native of British America, we do hope to 
see that vast domain united to this great Republic. We hail the 
healthy progress annually made to this end, and will rejoice in 
the early reunion as a step in the right direction. 

The acquisition of Alaska has added much to our scanty fish¬ 
ing grounds. The prospective incorporation of the maritime 
provinces of British America with our country will enlarge our 
facilities. Such broad banks, teeming with spontaneous treas¬ 
ures, afford an inexhaustible nursery for rearing a grand com¬ 
merce. Friendly legislation will quicken the development of 
this prolific industry. Political economists can devise no surer 
policy for reviving our shipbuilding than by extending material en¬ 
couragement to our fisheries. A specific department of our gov¬ 
ernment should be created to supervise this branch of national in¬ 
dustry. All vessels employed in the whaling, walrus, sealing or 


110 


salt fishing, should be furnished with blank log-books and charts 
gratis. Discoveries of fishing grounds or other useful informa¬ 
tion touching the fisheries, should be freely disseminated in an¬ 
nual reports among our fishermen. It is time that organic 
measures should be inaugurated. Congress should move ear¬ 
nestly in the matter, to the end that the fisheries of our country 
may be properly developed. 

CONCLUSION. 

The humble suggestions herein submitted are founded on ob¬ 
servations noted in different countries during the past forty 
years. We commend them to the careful attention of thinking 
minds, in the hope that a more liberal policy may be adopted in 
behalf of our fishing industry, our depressed shipping in gen¬ 
eral, and the Northwest Coast in particular. 

“ Westward the course of Empire takes its way, 

The first four acts already past; 

The fifth shall crown the drama of the day, 

Time’s noblest offspring is the last.” 


POSTSCRIPT. 

In describing the northwest coast and the shores of Siberia, 
we have undertaken “ a big thing 100,000 miles of shore line 
laved with the warm stream from Japan, and teeming with visi¬ 
ble and invisible treasures, forms a large subject to be demon- 
stated in a pamphlet of one hundred pages. During our voyag¬ 
ing on the North Pacific we have visited many places and wit¬ 
nessed some of the resources herein set forth. In confirmation 
of our observations we have quoted well known authorities : 
Prof. Davidson, Superintendent of the Pacific Coast Survey, 
Generals Thomas and Davis, of the United States army, have 
been cited extensively. 

In demonstrating Puget Sound and its beautiful scenery and 
climate, we have drawn much on Wilkes, Davidson, Stevens, 
Flanders, Evans, Garfield and other experts. In behalf of the 
heroic fishermen of ancient and modern times, we have mainly 
relied on Hons. Henry Wheaton and Lorenzo Sabine. We are 
conscious of many defects which we hope to amend. We earnestly 
invite the co-operation of intelligent fishermen to the end, that 
this work may contribute to the proper development of our 
fisheries. J. L. McDONALD. 

Gloucester, Mass., Nov. 3, 1871. 



INDEX 


Page- 

Acquisition of California Coast Islands, 3 

North Pacific Ocean—Temperature, Winds, Rainfall, Fogs, Fish, 4 , 5 
Fishing Grounds, Hecta, Cape Flattery Banks, 7 

Oregon, Washington Territory, British Columbia, waters and-fish, 8 , 9 
Acquisition of Alaska—Topography, Islands and Climate, 13, 14 

Japanese Stream, Kamschatka Current, 15 , 16 

Winds, Timber, Minerals, 21 , 23 

Fishing Banks—Cod, Halibut and Salmon, 25, 26, 28 

Fur-bearing Animals, Gray and Fur Seal, 29, 30 

An Act to Prevent the Extermination of Fur-bearing Animals, 

Proclamation of the Collector of San Francisco, 33, 36 

Walrus, Whales, Population, 39, 40, 42 

Siberia—Climate, Resources, Population, 46, 47 

Bhering Sea Currents, 48 

Salt, Turk’s Island, Salt Lake, 49 

Curing Fish, Cooperage, Outfits, Markets, 50, 51 

A Plea for Puget Sound, 52 

Topography, Climate, Productions, 53, 55 

Rivers, Farming Lands, Soil, 56 

Minerals—Iron, Coal, Silver and Gold, 59 

Timber, Water Power, 60 

Indians, Traders, Pioneers, 61 

Towns—Port Townsend, Seattle, 64 

Steilacoom, Olympia and Tumwater, 65 

Milling and Mining Towns, 66 

Commercial Statistics, Lumbering, Shipbuilding, 67, 68 

Report of San Francisco Board of Underwriters, 69 

Ship “ Wildwood ” at San Francisco, 70 

Northwest Coast, Harbors, Montery and San Francisco, 73 

Columbia River—Entrance and Ice, 77 

Puget Sound Scenery, Wilkes, 78, 80 

Jefferson, Ledyard, Astor, Fur Trade, 81, 83 

Railroad Explorations, Distances, N. P. R. R., 84 

Transcontinental and Asiatic Commerce, 85 

Population of Washington Territory, Schools, Churches, Press, 

Hotels, 89,90 

Industries, Foundries, Tanneries, Bootmaking, Health, 91 

United States Census for 1870, 92 

Recapitulation, Westward, Ho! Conclusion, 93, 94, 95 

Triumphs of the Fishermen, 96 

Legislation Requisite for the Fisheries, 103 

Postscript, HO 


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Sent by mail on receipt of money. Olympia, W. T. 









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MAIN STREET, OLYMPIA, W. T. 


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(FORMERLY SIRES’ HOTEL,) 

PORT TOWNSEND, WASHINGTON TERRITORY, 

4®- Nearest Hotel to the Steamboat Landing—Travelers will find the best 
accommodation to be had on Puget Sound....Suits of Rooms tor Families.... 
Terms moderate. J. J. HUNT, Proprietor. 

O. F. GERRISH & CO., 

PORT TOWNSEND, WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 

Bellingham Bay Coal Mine, 

WHATCOM, WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 

R. E. MYERS, Local Maxager. 

SGI** Cargoes delivered at short notice, on liberal terms* 
BELLINGHAM BAY COAL CO., Agents, San Francisco. 

PROCTER BROTHERS” 

Printers, Publishers, and dealers in Station¬ 
ery, Room Paper, Fancy Goods, &c., 

123 FRONT STREET, : : GLOUCESTER, MASS. 

4®r Editors and Proprietors of the CAPE ANN ADVERTISER, published ev¬ 
ery Friday morning,—an excellent medium for advertisers. 

4®- Sole Proprietors of NATURE’S HAIR RESTORATIVE, the Wonder 
of the Age f 



































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